Waiting and Updating
by LiechLiet
Summary: Gauken Hetalia. On a residential trip to Wales, Kiku waits for the right moment to tell Heracles his feelings, while updating Facebook. Of course, this means that everyone gets involved! OCs for India and the other countreis in the UK. T for swearing.
1. Who's Evan?

**A/N: My OCs in this story are Lakshmi Patel (India), Cian Kirkland (Northern Ireland), Aoife Kirkland (Ireland), James Kirkland (Scotland) and Evan Kirkland (Wales). I invented these guys! Of course, I own nobody else…!**

**Just so you know, Aoife is pronounced "Ee-fa" or "Ee-va" and Cian is pronounced "Kee-an".**

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><p><span>Chapter One: Who's Evan?<span>

_Saturday morning_ **Alfred F. Jones** wrote on **Arthur Kirkland's** Wall DUDE! SIT NEXT TO ME ON THE COACH TOMORROW MORNING!

**James Kirkland **Sorry lad, he's sitting next to me

**Alfred F. Jones **No fair! D:

**James Kirkland **That's just the way the world works ;)

**Francis Bonnefoy **If either of you had actually *asked* him, you would have known that he is sitting next to moi!

**Arthur Kirkland **Stop making decisions for me, you lot! I don't want to sit next to ANY OF YOU! :(  
>Four people like this<p>

**Cian Kirkland **The Kirkland clan have dibs on the back seat!

**Aoife Kirkland **And the Kirkland twins have dibs on the Maoams!

**Cian Kirkland **Well said, twin

**Aoife Kirkland **Well replied, twin

**Alfred F. Jones **Well there are five seats SO THE HERO CAN SIT THERE TOO! :D :D :D

**Arthur Kirkland **Can't you count, hamburger brain? Me + James + twins + Evan = 5

**Alfred F. Jones **Evan? :/ whos that

**James Kirkland **OUR COUSIN YOU TWIT :O

**Alfred F. Jones **Oh my bad. WHO WILL I SIT WITH? MATTIE'S SITTING WITH GILBERT AND NOBODY ELSE WANTS TO SIT WITH MEEEE!

**Arthur Kirkland **Not surprising really.  
>7 people like this<p>

**Alfred F. Jones **WTF how did 7 people like Iggy's comment? I bet they're all just ur multi accounts loser

**Gilbert Beilschmit **I liked it cos it was pretty damn funny

**Alfred F. Jones **Nobody asked you loser!

**Matthew Williams **Alfred don't be rude to Gilbert please?

**Alfred F. Jones **EVERYONES GANGING UP ON ME!

**Gilbert Beilschmit **Yes we are Arthur Kirkland and James Kirkland like this

**Alfred F. Jones **YOU GUYS ARE SO MEEEEEAAAAN

**Lovino Vargas **YOU RETARDS ARE CLOGGING UP MY NEWSFEED JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP

**Evan Kirkland **… I'm in this conversation?

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><p><em>Saturday afternoon<em>  
>"Toris…" whined Feliks. "All my stuff is, like, totally not fitting in my suitcase!"<br>The blond was sitting on his huge case in a futile attempt to squash the lid down far enough to do up the zipper. Brightly coloured clothes and accessories were spilling out like lava from a volcano. Toris did a double take when he saw his boyfriend.  
>"Um, Feliks, you know we're doing mucky stuff on this trip? Climbing Mt. Snowdon, doing nature trails, stuff like that?" he chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Feliks looked shocked. "You're going to ruin all your nice clothes if you take them… And anyway, the weather's going to be awful."<p>

"_What?_" shrieked Feliks, throwing open the suitcase and beginning to empty it frantically. "_Oh my God, why didn't you, like, TELL me?_"  
>Toris watched in awe as a selection of mini-shirts and high heels flew in all directions. He caught a particularly high pair of espadrilles and said, "You do realise we're going to <em>Wales<em>? The weather is just like England – if not worse."  
>"How am I, like, supposed to know what the weather was gonna be like in, like, another country?" demanded Feliks, yanking open his wardrobe to try and find more suitable clothing.<br>"Well, there is this radical new invention called The Internet," pointed out Toris, eyeing Feliks' laptop. It had Facebook open, and as usual Alfred was fighting with Arthur's numerous cousins.  
>"Did you hear that Arthur has, like, this cousin that nobody knew about?" came the 'valley girl' voice, its owner currently buried in the wardrobe. "He's, like, called Evan, and he's like, meant to be Wales or something. How come we never heard about him?"<br>"We did! At the last World Meeting?" Toris sighed; Feliks was so self-centred sometimes. "He was _there_. Actually, he was the only one not arguing about something or other!"  
>"Oh, so that's why I didn't notice him," mused Feliks. "I was, like, too busy watching the Scottish one, whatshisname, throw grapes at Alfred during his big speech…"<br>Toris sighed again. This would be a very interesting holiday…

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><p><em>Saturday evening<em>  
>"Evan-san is very generous, providing for this trip." Kiku and Elizabeta were lounging in the Hungarian girl's room. Well, Elizabeta was lounging, looking at her collection of photographs, while Kiku was packing his holdall and reading a manga.<br>"Um, remind me who that is again?"  
>"Arthur-kun's cousin!" How some people go so extremely unnoticed was quite upsetting, thought Kiku. Poor Evan was probably going to end up the new Matthew. "He organised this whole trip. He said it would be good for team-building, fitness, and other similar things."<p>

"Pfft, the only reason anyone goes on these trips is so they can tell someone that they love them," declared Elizabeta, flicking through the many pictures. Ooh, that was a very good one of Francis harassing Arthur~  
>"What do you mean, tell someone that they love them?" asked Kiku, frowning slightly as he looked up from folding his t-shirts.<br>"Seven nights, probably together in a dorm room? Breeding ground for new relationships." That photo of Gilbert and Matthew was adorable~!

"New relationships?"  
>"Speaking of relationships," Elizabeta turned to face her friend. "What's the deal with you and Heracles? I mean, you two are so obviously made for each other! Just tell him and get on with it!"<br>"Ah, Elizabeta-kun…" the Japanese boy blushed with embarrassment. He knew that he had… feelings… for his best friend, but he thought he was good at hiding his emotions! "Was I that obvious?" he mumbled.  
>"I was the only one that noticed," Elizabeta assured him, lying through her teeth. Everyone knew how Kiku felt about Heracles. Apart from Heracles himself, it seemed.<br>"Should I sit next to him on the journey?" Kiku asked, eager for advice. "Or will that seem odd?"  
>"No, no," Elizabeta waved her hand. "Everyone knows you two are like <em>this<em> –" she crossed her index and middle fingers, " – it won't be weird at all."  
>"Thank you, Elizabeta-kun." Kiku went back to his clothes.<p>

Elizabeta chuckled. So what if she was giving their relationship a friendly nudge? She stroked her camera gleefully in anticipation of the many photos she would taking. Then she had a thought.  
>"Kiku? Is Evan cute? I need some new photos and I've definitely got one of everyone…"<p>

**How was that? Reviews are love~ :)**


	2. The Crazy Facebook Update

**Here is the very heavily edited chapter 2! Cue more Facebook madness!**

Chapter Two: The _Crazy_ Facebook Update

_Dear Diary,_

_This is Honda Kiku. I am on a coach, currently on my way to a place in Wales called Caernarfon. Me and a group of other students are staying for a weeklong residential trip there, mostly organised by Arthur-kun's cousin Evan, who happens to be Wales. He is very quiet and nearly invisible, much like Matthew-san. However I don't think I can say the same for the rest of the Kirkland relatives._

_Sunday, 6:30 a.m_  
>"GIVE ME THE CHERRYADE!" bellowed James Kirkland, his harsh Scottish accent carrying right to the front of the coach, even though the intended receiver of his shout, Arthur, was sitting right next to him.<p>

The coach had five seats at the very back, and then had about fifteen rows of two, one in front of the other, on either side. On the far left, Alfred was clutching his Nintendo DS, cheering as Mario and Luigi threw fireballs at little monsters.  
>On his right was Arthur, looking annoyed and chewing ferociously on his sixth piece of chewing gum that morning. He was trying to read a book – the keyword here being 'trying'.<br>On the far right were the Irish twins, Cian and Aoife Kirkland, who were sharing iPod headphones and Maoams.  
>It was in front of them where Heracles sat in the window seat sleeping as usual, and Kiku was beside him in the aisle seat, trying to start his holiday diary.<br>James was sitting like a king in the very middle of the back row. He was high as a kite on sweets and the drink he called 'Cherryade'. It looked like liquid preservatives to Kiku.

"Do you have to shout so effin' loud?" snapped Arthur. "It's six thirty in the bloody morning."  
>"So what? If I want to shout, I'll shout."<br>"Here, take your high juice and shut up." Arthur threw the purple can (that was an uncannily similar colour to the drink it contained) hard at his cousin and James caught it deftly, grinning.  
>For the fifth time in the half an hour that they'd been on the coach, Kiku wondered how his Greek best friend could be asleep through all the noise. And he was dreading the next six hours that it would take to drive from London to Caernarfon.<p>

The Japanese boy studied Heracles. He looked so relaxed when he was asleep, so… there was no other word for it: beautiful. Kiku blushed. How could he have thoughts like that about Heracles? What type of friend was he? But he couldn't ignore these feelings. He was watching the sleeping boy so closely that she jumped a foot in the air when his phone vibrated.

_To: Honda Kiku  
>From: ElizaFryingPan;)<br>You're practically undressing him with your eyes. Please wake him up and ask him about your relationship._

Kiku blushed. Elizabeta was so downright blunt, it was embarrassing.  
><em>Well what should I say?<em> he replied.  
>Even though he could actually see Elizabeta six rows down, typing her text, the Japanese boy fidgeted through the thirty seconds it took her to reply.<br>_Be direct. Ask him what the nature of your relationship is.  
><em>Kiku shut his eyes. He didn't want to do it – but he needed to know! So he weakly pocketed his phone and proceeded to shake his best friend.

"Heracles-kun?"  
>The Greek opened his eyes blearily, and blinked. "Kiku?"<br>The Japanese boy smiled. "It's me."  
>"Are we there yet?"<br>"Still another six hours."  
>"Six hours?" Heracles stretched. "May as well just go back to sleep…"<br>"_No!_" After feeling momentarily shocked that he had said something so loud, Kiku continued, "I just wanted to ask you something!"  
>"Go ahead."<br>Blushing and swallowing, Kiku looked at his hands and mumbled, "What... would you say the… um, nature of our… um, relationship… was?"

For a minute, Heracles sat and stared at him, and stared, his big green eyes blinking sleepily as he pondered the question. Kiku was getting redder by the second. _What have I just done?_  
>"Complicated," yawned the Greek, shutting his eyes again. "It's complicated."<p>

"Complicated?" Kiku asked. But Heracles was asleep again. Kiku sighed.  
>What did 'complicated' mean? Did it mean they were just friends? Maybe more than just friends? Did it mean Heracles liked him? Maybe it was a subtle way of saying that Heracles <em>didn't <em>like him! So many possibilities!  
>On the spur of the moment, Kiku pulled out his phone and logged into Facebook – it was a miracle that there was reception on the motorway! – and quickly changed his profile.<p>

"He did it!" cheered Elizabeta under her breath. And to put it on Facebook as well – that boy had guts. Either that or he had no idea what he was getting into.

Behind her, Tino Väinämöinen was peering over the seat at her phone.  
>"Oh my god, Berwald!" he hissed, prodding the tall boy beside him. "Berwald! Kiku and Heracles are together!"<br>"Hm?" Anyone else would have thought that his lack of words meant he was disinterested, but Tino had known his boyfriend long enough to translate the short sound into, "Really? Tell me more".  
>"He's put it on his Facebook profile," grinned the Finn. "That must mean it's true!"<br>"God h'lp h'm."  
>"Yeah…" Both boys sat back and imagined what would happen next. It wasn't pretty.<p>

"Hey, Birdie, check your Facebook right now!"  
>Gilbert was slightly worried about Matthew. He was being very quiet. Well, more so than usual. And he was just staring out the window, watching the spitting rain run down the window with an odd expression on his face, pulling the long sleeves of his tee down even further.<br>"Birdie, what's wrong?" he asked in a gentle voice. The unusual tone of voice made the Canadian's head snap round.  
>"Nothing's wrong," he smiled nervously. "Why would something be wrong, eh? Now what were you saying?"<br>Mentally noting the weird behavior and unsubtle subject change, the Prussian said, "Check your Facebook right now, Elizabeta says."

Matthew pulled out his Blackberry and opened his Facebook app.  
>"No way!"<br>"What is it?" Gilbert asked eagerly, leaning over the black gadget.  
>"Kiku and Heracles?" Matthew pushed his curl out of his face. "Together? Since when?"<p>

"You're kidding!" exclaimed Matthias.  
>"Why would I kid about something dumb like this?" asked Christian, shooting his boyfriend a deadpan look. "I heard exactly what Tino said. I'm just relaying the information."<br>"Well, if you're sure…" the Dane winked before standing up, blatantly ignoring the 'seatbelts on at all times' rule and shouting, "Everybody! Check Facebook NOW!"  
>Phones were pulled out and shared, and people gasped in wonder, happiness or just plain surprise. It took literally about four seconds for the whispers to reach Kiku – he flushed a deep red and buried his face in his hands, curling into a C shape. And then the comments started.<p>

**Kiku Honda** is in a complicated relationship with **Heracles Karpusi  
><strong>**Elizabeta Hedevary **likes this

**Sadik Adnan **FRAPE LOL

**Elizabeta Hedervary **um Sadik its actually true

**Sadik Adnan** OMG WAT?

**Gilbert Beilschmit **yea cos u didn't come on this trip they've thrown off all pretence and are totally in love and inseperable

**Sadik Adnan **:O

**Elizabeta Hedervary **Gilbert don't be mean ;)

**James Kirkland **Is this the boy who's been sleeping since we got on the coach and the boy who's currently dying of embarrassment in front of us? Which is which?

**Arthur Kirkland **Heracles is the sleeping one. That's a little trait of his.

**Evan Kirkland **I was warned that things like this would happen on this trip :/ And it hasn't even started yet.

**Alfred F. Jones **WAY TO GO KIKUUUUU!

**Arthur Kirkland **Stop making a huge fuss. Can't you see you're all embarrassing Kiku even more? Gosh.

**Yao Wang **Kiku, much as I want you to be happy, you and Heracles are both in my dorm room on this trip, so I want your promise that nothing untoward will be happening!

**Ivan Braginski **You can ignore them, Yao-Yao. We will be too busy doing untoward things ourselves, da?

**Yao Wang **IVAN! :O

**Tino Väinämöinen **Oh yeah, Alfred, I found out that you're in a dorm with Berwald and me! Won't it be fun?

**Alfred F. Jones **Yeah, great, but Iggy too, right?

**Tino Väinämöinen **Um, I think it's actually Ludwig and Christian with us, not Arthur…

**Alfred F. Jones …**Who the heck is Christian? I don't know a Christian. Is there even a person called Christian on this trip?

**Christian Johansen **That would me, you obnoxious bastard.  
>8 people like this<p>

**Alfred F. Jones **Uh… what nation are you?

**Christian Johansen **Norway. I hate you.

**Alfred F. Jones **My bad… wait, LUDWIG? Crap!

**Ludwig Beilschmit **You have an uncanny habit of pissing off everyone you talk to, Jones.

**Feliciano Vargas **There are five people in each dorm, right?

**Ludwig Beilschmit ** That's right.

**Feliciano Vargas **So that's Alfred, Tino, Berwald, Christian, Ludwig… and me!

**James Kirkland **Sorry, to break it to you… but that adds up to six. You're not in that room.

**Feliciano Vargas **NOT WITH LUDWIG? NOOOOOOOOOOOO! :''''''''''''''''''(

**Ludwig Beilschmit **I see you have no sense of breaking bad news gently

**Elizabeta Hedervary **doesn't anyone actually care about the RELATIONSHIP?

**Feliks Łukasiewicz **aww I think its like totally adorable u

**Elizabeta Hedervary **THANK YOU FELIKS

**Reviews make me happy! I'm working on pictures of the Kirkland cousins to put on Photobucket for those of you who want to see what they look like!**


	3. Scary Roommates and SleepTalking

**Prepare for the wave of madness that is teenage nations on high!**

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><p><span>Chapter Three: Scary Roommates and Sleep-talking<span>

_11:45 p.m._  
><strong>Feliks Łukasiewicz<strong> OMG Arthur's Scottish cousin is like totally mental  
><strong>Evan Kirkland<strong> and **Alfred F. Jones** like this.

"James, seriously, shut up!" growled Arthur. The English boy was lying in bed, pillow over his head in a half-hearted attempt to get some peace. Of course, James couldn't allow that!  
>"You'll have to make me, ween!" cackled the Scot, jumping on his bed like a hyperactive six year old. "I'm having too much fun to be quelled by the likes of you!"<br>"Evan's lucky he got put in another room," muttered Cian. Toris chuckled nervously, already tucked into the bottom bunk of the bunk bed he was sharing with Feliks. The Pole just rolled his eyes from where he was brushing his blonde locks in the mirror, clad in an extremely feminine set of pyjamas, consisting of a lilac vest and shorts that hit him mid-thigh. It was only his lack of chest that made him look like a boy.

"Hey!" a shrill shout made all five boys look to the door. A figure with flowing red hair, a pillow in her arms and a blanket wrapped around her shoulders stood in the doorway, wearing pyjamas identical to Feliks'. The only rather obvious difference was her very large chest. In fact, Toris, Arthur, James and Cian were all staring.  
>"Oh, stop eyeing me like I'm a piece of meat," growled Aoife. "Cian, we're twins, I'm sure you've seen it all before." Ignoring the gagging noise her brother made, she turned to the other three. "Do you want to ask Cian how hard I can punch?" she threatened. The boys tried not to cower in fear.<br>"Why are you here?" asked Arthur, purposely looking anywhere but Aoife. "Go back to your own room."

She snorted and set her bedclothes on Cian's bed.  
>"I'm in a room with that scary blonde brotherphile, Belarus or something? I mean, she was actually talking to a photo of him. 'Marry me, brother, marry me…'" The Irish girl shook her head as if to clear the mentally disturbing image from her mind. "So I'm staying here."<br>"There's no room!" protested Arthur. No way was he sharing with yet another mental relative!  
>"Yes there is," she replied sweetly, before turning to Cian, who was trying to hide under his covers. "Move," she ordered.<br>"No! Go back to your own room!"  
>"How could you abandon your own twin?"<p>

"Um… I can share with Feliks, if you want my bed," suggested Toris quietly, trying to avert any argument.  
>"No, no, don't put yourself out!" insisted Arthur, shaking his head and mouthing <em>don't move<em> at Toris.  
>"Aw, thanks!" Aoife shot a toothy grin at the Lithuanian before seeing Feliks for the first time and jumping violently.<br>"Oh my God, I did _not_ see you there!" She turned to face the blond, frowned in confusion, then whipped back around to face her family members. "Are you sharing a room with a girl?" she asked in a scandalised tone.

"HAHAHA! THAT WOULD BE WELL FUNNY!"  
>"Shut up, James, you git! And who do you think we are, Aoife?"<br>"Um, Feliks is a boy…"  
>"I'm like, totally a boy!" exclaimed the Pole, before tossing his now completely glossy hair and adding, "By the way, did you notice that we're, like, totally wearing the same PJs?"<br>"Oh, we are," Aoife looked very confused. "It shows that we, like, have totally amazing taste! Where do you shop here in Britain?"  
>"Um, mostly Topshop, New Look, places like that."<br>"OMG, that is so cool! Topshop is like, the best!"  
>Suddenly Aoife and Feliks were chatting about clothes as if they'd known each other forever. Toris was used to this sort of talk, and curled up on Feliks' bunk to sleep. Cian had given up, Arthur just shook his head… and James was still jumping on his bed, screeching.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Feliks Łukasiewicz<strong> is totally best friends with **Aoife Kirkland** now, cos she has like such great taste in clothes! :P  
><strong>Elizabeta Hedervary<strong> likes this

**Elizabeta Hedervary** Why is Aoife in your room?

**Feliks Łukasiewicz** cos Natalia was scaring her :/

**Elizabeta Hedervary** Well its past midnight so surely Natalia's calmed down by now?

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><p><em>00:20 a.m.<br>_**Ivan Braginski** Lpovees voddksa Three people like this

**Alfred F. Jones** Are you drunk?

**Arthur Kirkland** Well done, Einstein

In the room next door, a tall Russian boy was giggling quietly.  
>"Ivan, I can't believe you brought vodka," whispered Yao, shaking his head. "Think of the hangovers! And the <em>younger<em> nations in this room!"  
>"Denmark drinks plenty," muttered Iceland, who was facing away from the rest of his roommates, clutching his stuffed puffin.<p>

"More vodka?" Ivan offered, ignoring his Chinese friend, waving the bottle around at his roommates. Yao and Kiku shook their heads, Freyr (commonly referred to as Ice, or Aisu as Kiku liked to call him) turned around to briefly shoot him the deadpan look that he had so obviously inherited from his older brother, and Heracles carried on dozing.  
>"How can you drink that stuff?" asked Yao incredulously. "It burns like fire in your throat!"<br>"It's good." And with that, Ivan drained his third bottle of the night.

"Why don't we tell more stories?" suggested Kiku, trying to stop a fight breaking out.  
>"Want me to tell you the one about the woman who was stabbed in the shower?" asked Ivan, grinning widely.<br>"Aiyah, not more scary stories!" begged Yao. He was terrified out of his mind by the disturbing tales Ivan was telling – but he didn't want to admit that. So he crossed his arms defensively and said, "I'm sure you're scaring Freyr."  
>The three conscious boys turned to the small silver-haired boy.<br>"They aren't scary," Freyr said in a monotone. "They're ridiculous."  
>"Well, that is wonderful, da? Now we can tell some more…"<br>"Ivan…"

It was at that point that they all heard a noise. Not just any noise; a scratchy, scary sound that wormed its way into the ears and spawned thoughts that nobody wanted to have.  
>"Somebody's trying to get in," hissed Yao.<br>"What?" squeaked Kiku, trembling.  
>"Somebody's scratching on the door!"<br>"This is… odd," whispered Ivan. It was his way of saying, "I'm scared!" without embarrassing himself. Or so he thought. Everyone knew he was scared, but were too scared themselves to say anything.

"_Big… Brother…_" Another scratching noise. "_Marry… me…_"  
>"AAAAARGHH!" yelled all the boys – minus Heracles, of course, who cracked open one eye upon hearing the noise.<br>"Go away!" cried Ivan. "Go back to your own room!"  
>"<em>Marry me…<em>"  
>"Oh, for the love of Zeus," mumbled Heracles, staggering out of bed. Everyone, even deadpan Aisu, stared at him in shock.<br>"What are you doing?" cried Ivan fearfully. "It's my _sister_!" He spat the last word as if in the belief that if it stayed on his tongue too long, he may actually be forced to marry her.

Heracles took no heed and instead thrust open the door, nearly whacking Natalia round the head if she hadn't moved.  
>"Where is my brother?" she growled.<br>"What is wrong with you?" he scowled at her. "I was in the middle of a _very _relaxing sleep, and you had to go and ruin it. Nobody. Messes. With. Me. When. I'm. Sleeping. So I won't say it again: go away."  
>As he leaned forward, all the power of his mother seemed to seep into him, and he appeared to grow. Natalia stamped her foot, but even she could feel the aura of strength emanating from the Greek. With a stifled shriek she fled up the corridor and back into her room. Heracles shut the door again and turned back to the others.<p>

"Heracles…" Yao could only gape.  
>"You – scared her – away?" Ivan was reluctant to believe it; there was somebody that could scare his sister!<br>"You are so brave, Heracles-kun," sighed Kiku. He knew that this would be a great opportunity to reveal his feelings, if they hadn't been alone. But there was a drunk Russian, a terrified Chinaman and a stony Icelandic in the room with them. So for lack of anything better to do, he pulled out his phone to update Facebook once again.

Heracles went back to sleep. And it was only once they had all drifted off when they realised a particularly annoying trait that happened to be shared by all the Nordics.

* * *

><p><strong>Kiku Honda<strong> Heracles is so brave…  
><strong>Elizabeta Hedervary<strong> likes this

**Yao Wang** I know! I never thought anyone could scare away Natalia…

**Elizabeta Hedervary** HERACLES scared away NATALIA?

**Kiku Honda** It's shocking, I know. By the way, Aisu obviously has deep anger inside. He shouts in his sleep.

* * *

><p><em>03;17 a.m.<em>  
><strong>Alfred F. Jones<strong> Man, I'm actually tired…

The occupants of Room Six were all in their beds, but were by no means quietly asleep.  
>"Berwald," said Tino loudly. "Berwald, I can't find that, um, thing I had yesterday..."<br>"Is that dude not asleep yet?" Alfred said in a hushed voice to Ludwig in the next bed.

Ludwig cracked open one cold blue eye and replied, "He is asleep. He's just sleep talking. I'm used to it from Feliciano, but this…" He shook his head. "These Nordics have serious issues."  
>It was true; Finland was having a loud one-sided conversation about complete rubbish, Sweden continuously muttered in Swedish, and Norway let out the odd 'Get off me, <em>Danmark<em>!' every few minutes. Basically, Alfred and Ludwig could not get to sleep.

"Berwald!" whined the Finn. "Where did you put Hanatamago's food?"  
>"Who the heck is Hanatamago?" Alfred rolled his eyes. He had thought Tino was cool, but he really was completely off the planet sometimes.<br>"I think… his dog? Or is it a cat?" Ludwig rolled his eyes too. He could handle the odd 'Pasta!' or 'Ve~', but all this nonsense? So loudly? At three in the morning? Ridiculous.

"Berwald, I hate cooking. I'm so bad at it, unlike you," sighed Tino. "You'd make a great house-husband, Berwald. Maybe I could marry you one day?"  
>The two blonds couldn't help but laugh at that, although Alfred let out a huge guffaw and Ludwig just chuckled quietly.<br>"I can't wait to tell Berwald," gasped Alfred between laughs.  
>"He'll be happy," pointed out the German. "He's been calling Tino his wife for years!"<br>"So true. In fact, I think we should video this." Alfred grabbed his phone from his bedside table, shoved on his glasses and hopped out of bed, perching on the edge of Tino's. He positioned the phone so that the viewer would be able to see all three Nordics; Tino in the closest bed, then Berwald in the bed next to him, and Christian, the furthest away. "This will be the funniest Facebook update ever." The American grinned sleepily, and hit Record.

"Berwald, I can't find my diary!" The Finn waved his hand in front of his face, still fast asleep. Ludwig and Alfred stifled their giggles.  
>"<em>Jag är… kall…"<em> murmured the Swedish boy. "Tino… _fryser… du?_"  
>"They dream about each other!" Alfred snorted, and he swung his phone round to face Ludwig for a minute. "True love!"<br>Ludwig blushed, not wanting to admit that he dreamt about Feliciano sometimes. He was certain that he had gone bright red, but surely it was too dark for the American to see?

After filming for a few minutes, Christian hadn't spoken much on camera, and Alfred was disappointed. Making sure that he could still see the other two, he crept round to sit on Christian's bed and slowly, gently, poke him on the cheek.  
>"<em>DANMARK!<em>" Christian shouted, jerking upright and opening his eyes. Alfred screamed in shock and jumped back, forgetting that he was actually sitting, resulting in him sprawled on the floor while Ludwig laughed in the background.  
>"What's going on?" came the voice of Tino.<br>"Alfred was messing with Christian."  
>"Ah, I see…" Tino chuckled.<br>"Fool," stated Berwald, not bothering to open his eyes.

Alfred was outraged. "Hey! At least I wasn't talking in my sleep! I'm so putting this video on Facebook!" he jeered, waving his phone as he sat up.  
>"You do that," advised Ludwig. What the American didn't seem to realise was that the small videophone had captured everything that had happened in the last five minutes – including Alfred's very 'un-heroic' screech of fright . But oh well. Let him find out once the video was out there for everyone to see…<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Poor clueless Alfred :P Reviews keep me going! Chapter Four will herald the first appearance of India and her cunning plan to get Vash a girlfriend!<strong>


	4. Secrets and Plans

**18/11/11: Finally corrected this chapter :) I've read through it and I have to say that I'm pretty embarrassed that I wrote this D: But I can't change the whole plotline now, so I just have to deal with it...**

**There's some secrecy and angst in this chapter, mostly from poor Matthew. What's he hiding? Enjoy the chapter nevertheless! And just so you know, Shelly is Seychelles! Sorry I didn't clarify earlier! It's an unoriginal name, I know :/**

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><p><span>Chapter Four: Secrets and Plans<span>

_Monday 7:00 a.m._

When Gilbert cracked open one eye at seven a.m., he was shocked to see that he was the only one still in bed. Not that it was surprising really, given the people he was sharing with: Vash, Evan, Feliciano and Matthew. Vash was fully dressed, sitting bolt upright on his bed like a soldier waiting for the sergeant to tell him to relax. His bed was neatly made, his pink pyjamas folded on the pillow. Gilbert had teased him mercilessly about them, even when the Swiss boy insisted he only wore them because they had been a gift from his sister.

The Prussian could hear Feliciano singing loudly in Italian over the sound of taps running. He was in the bathroom, obviously washing his face or something. Evan was wearing a plain t-shirt and trackies, curled on the floor checking Facebook on his phone. Gilbert hadn't noticed quite how unruly his hair was, but now he noticed the curls bouncing this way and that, defying gravity with a vengeance. It reminded him of Matthew's curl. Speaking of Matthew, why was Matthew waiting by the bathroom door, wearing his maple-leaf patterned pyjamas while holding an armful of clothes?

"You taking a shower, Birdie?" yawned Gilbert.  
>"Oh, good morning, Gilbert." Matthew shook his head. "No, I'm just waiting to get dressed."<br>"Why do you need the bathroom to get dressed?"  
>"I want to change in the bathroom," mumbled the Canadian, blushing.<br>"Why? We're all boys here, Mattie," chuckled Gilbert.  
>"I know, but…"<p>

"Come on, nobody's looking!" Gilbert strode across the room and tugged jokingly at his boyfriend's long sleeve. "Well, maybe I am, but that's beside the point," he teased.  
>"No, Gilbert, leave me alone," said Matthew softly, hugging his arms around his torso.<br>"Take off those pretty pyjamas," laughed Gilbert, reaching for the buttons on Matthew's top.  
>"No!" Without warning Matthew shoved Gilbert hard, pushing him back. The Prussian boy was shocked.<p>

"Birdie… did you just _hit_ me?" Matthew was never violent. Never. Something was definitely wrong.  
>"I'm sorry," the Canadian looked down. "But please, Gilbert, stop bugging me about it. I just want to change in the bathroom, okay?"<br>"Okay." Gilbert pulled Matthew into a hug. "If there's something wrong, you tell me,_ ja_?" he said softly.  
>"<em>Oui<em>," came the muffled reply. Gilbert kissed the top of Matthew's blond head, and let him go just as Feliciano danced out of the bathroom, singing happily. Matthew hurried into the bathroom and locked the door.

"That was close," the Canadian said to himself, in French. He quickly tugged off his top and ran his fingers down his pale arms. Well, they weren't quite so pale anymore. "I don't know what I'll do if Gilbert finds out," he whispered.

* * *

><p><em>7:25 a.m.<em>  
>"Is it true?" asked Lakshmi eagerly in her strong Indian accent, sitting down next to Elizabeta. "Is it true that Kiku and Heracles are together?" Lakshmi represented the nation of India, and she did it well. She was four foot four inches and curvy. Her knee-length hair was braided into two long plaits that just about reached her waist, and her big brown eyes were outlined with the faintest of eyeliners. She was outgoing, fun-loving and daring. She was also holding a bottle of Thums Up, her trademark Indian Coke. Ivan had vodka, she had Thums Up.<p>

"Well, I'm not completely sure," admitted Elizabeta. "Can I have that?" She gestured to the Thums Up. The Hungarian adored it.  
>"Not until you give me more <em>details<em>!" Lakshmi pressed. "Are they together? Who asked who? Have they kissed? And what about the disco tonight?"  
>"Disco?"<br>"Oh, there's a disco tonight, and one on Wednesday night and then one on Saturday also," explained the Indian girl. "Then on Tuesday there's a games night – a Wii tournament or something – and on Thursday and Friday there are movies showing. It'll be fun!"  
>"Disco…" Elizabeta was so glad she had remembered her camera!<p>

"I actually needed to tell you about something," said Lakshmi, setting her bottle down on the table. "You know Vash?"  
>"I do indeed. Your best friend and unrequited love of your life."<br>"I am not in love with Vash!" hissed Lakshmi. "I'm just worried that he's lonely. I mean, he hardly smiles anymore, not even to his sister. So I have a plan: get him a girlfriend!"  
>Elizabeta, who had managed to steal the bottle and was sipping at it, choked. After a short coughing fit, she managed to gasp out, "Vash? A girlfriend?"<br>"There aren't many girls on the trip, so I think it will take maybe two, three days only, to find the perfect one."  
>"Have you seen which girls are on this trip?" demanded Elizabeta. "There are only a couple who we could even consider hooking him up with!" Lakshmi whipped out a notebook and pen, and the two girls proceeded to make a list.<p>

_Yekaterina – possible. Bit of a crybaby though. And there's her brother to think about.  
>Natalya – no comment.<br>Shelly – doesn't she fancy Francis?  
>Aoife – possible. We don't know her that well.<br>Bella – possible. Her brother will want to get involved though.  
>Elizabeta – NO WAY IN HELL.<br>Lakshmi – no._

"Three eligible girls." The Hungarian sighed. "Can't we hook him up with a boy instead~?" She made puppy-eyes at the Indian girl.  
>"Vash doesn't swing that way," Lakshmi said firmly. "Let's just go through these three. Only if that doesn't work will I consider a boy for him."<p>

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><p><em>8:15 a.m<em>  
>Once everybody had entered the breakfast hall – Lars, the Netherlands, had stumbled in at 8:00 when they had been expressly told to be there by 7:30 – Evan stood up and announced, "Today we aren't doing any major activities, but we will be exploring the village and the castle on the hill. Which means climbing the hill." There were a few groans.<br>"Please, quiet down," sighed Evan. "We will also spend time at the beach and a lovely ice-cream parlour just down the road, which you are allowed to go to in your free time." This raised a cheer, and then breakfast was served.

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><p><em>10:30 a.m.<em>  
>Matthew trudged slowly up the hill. He was far behind everybody else – all his friends had others to be with. Arthur was with his cousins, Gilbert was with Francis and Antonio, Ivan and Yekaterina were with their sister, Alfred had chosen today to hang out with Kiku; Matthew was alone. Matthew was nobody's first choice.<p>

Finally the Canadian found a grassy spot (that hadn't been trampled by James running all over the hillside screeching "_the hills are alive, with the sound of music!_" while being chased by Arthur) and sat down. He could feel himself getting depressed again. But they weren't allowed back in the hostel until lunchtime, nearly three hours away. Maybe he could just stay here, he though hopefully. Maybe somebody would realise he wasn't there, and maybe somebody would come and look for him? _Don't kid yourself_, said a voice in the back of his mind. _Nobody will notice_.

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><p><em>11:30 a.m.<em>  
>"Heracles-kun!"<br>"Huh?"  
>"Don't sit down, you'll just fall asleep. Let's keep moving. This castle is very interesting…" Kiku ran his hand along the old knobbly bricks, trying to steer clear of the Greek's clear gaze. He knew he would blush if he caught his friend's eye.<br>"Not as old as my mother's ruins…" mumbled Heracles, reluctantly hauling himself up.  
>"No, but impressive for a country that is as small as Evan."<p>

"That's because Evan is nae as young as he looks," grinned James, popping up from behind a ruin. He was somehow _still_ on a sugar high – how did he do it?  
>"Not this discussion again," growled Arthur, who was still following him. The English boy was scowling. "Why are you so interested in this topic of conversation?"<br>"Because it embarrasses you," grinned the Scot. "You see, Kiku, Arthur here is actually the youngest out of us four Brits and Aoife."  
>"Really?" The Japanese boy was shocked. Arthur acted like the oldest – he was definitely the most mature!<br>"It's true," added Cian, who had strolled over at some point. "Arthur's birthday is on April 22nd, making him the youngest. Then it's me and Aoife on March 17th, then Evan on March 1st."  
>"Then it's me on November 30th!" cried James. "I'm the eldest!" he whooped.<br>"Shut it," blushed Arthur. "Aaaw, am I embarrassing the little babby-kins?" James pinched his cousin's cheek in a patronising manner and cooed. "So swee-ee-eet…"  
>"Shut your trap, git!"<br>"Come on, Heracles-kun," said Kiku hurriedly, practically dragging his Greek friend away as Arthur swung a punch at James. All would most definitely not end well.

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><p><strong>Arthur Kirkland<strong> wrote on **James Kirkland**'s wall Don't even think about asking me to sit next to you on the way to Snowdonia, bastard. I'm not going near you ever again.

**James Kirkland **I'm distraught, babby-kins.

**Arthur Kirkland **DON'T CALL ME THAT!

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><p><em>12:00 p.m<em>

**Elizabeta Hedervary **Calling all girls on the Wales trip! Come to Room Four (MY ROOM) at 4:30 today! Bring your swimming costumes and your disco clothes! **Aoife Kirkland**, think you can get some alcohol for us? ;) No brothers or boyfriends of any kind allowed!

**Francis Bonnefoy **What is this? ;D

**Elizabeta Hedervary **None of your business!

**Francis Bonnefoy **Swimsuits? I like the sound of that…  
><strong>Gilbert Beilschmit, Antonio Carriedo <strong>and **James Kirkland **like this

**Alfred F. Jones **Gilbert u shouldn't go round liking swimsuit comments or I'm tellin Mattie!

**Gilbert Beilschmit **What is with you, Jones? Why do you have it in for me?

**Alfred F. Jones **Cos I don't like u **Lakshmi Patel **likes this

**Kiku Honda **So blunt...

**Gilbert Beilshmit **Deal with it without annoying me on Facebook!

**Alfred F. Jones **Why?

**Lovino Vargas **YOU GUYS HAVE TOO MUCH FUCKING SPARE TIME ON YOUR HANDS

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><p><em>4:50 pm<br>_"Is _that _your swimming costume?"  
>"Yes," replied Lili, smoothing down her lilac one-piece. "Don't you like it?"<p>

Elizabeta looked around at the rest of the girls. Shelly was wearing a red bikini and Bella had a pink one. Yekaterina, blushing, and Natalia, scowling, were in matching blue bikini-top-and-swimming-skirt costumes, both in dark blue. Aoife was wearing a bright green bikini that accentuated her hair, and Lakshmi was in a baby-blue bikini. Elizabeta herself was wearing a dark green bikini. In short, all the girls were showing a lot of skin. Apart from Lili in a little-girly one-piece.

"It's fine," Lakshmi assured her, pulling on the top half of her salwar kameez. She turned to Elizabeta and whispered, "She's only little, it doesn't matter," before turning to the others and asking, "Aoife, did you get some alcohol?"  
>"It was too easy," cried Aoife, gesturing to the massive pile of beer, ale and rum she had acquired from her cousins. "Drink up!"<p>

All the girls grabbed a bottle and took a swig, apart from Lili.  
>"Are you sure we should do this?" the young girl asked anxiously.<br>"It'll be fun!" cried Shelly, draining her rum. "Us girls need to show that we're in charge!"  
>"What if they don't play 'California Girls'?" asked Yekaterina anxiously, sipping at some Irish beer.<br>"They always play 'California Girls' in discos," replied Elizabeta, pulling on a green dress.  
>"Has everyone got their dresses?" asked Lakshmi. "You need something that's easy to pull off, remember?"<br>"So this really is happening?" Aoife wiped her mouth after finishing her ale. "We're all going through with it?"  
>"We are indeed," grinned Elizabeta. "Boys, watch out! Here come the girls!"<p>

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><p><strong>Sorry I had to end it there! Hungary and India are right little schemers XD But what on earth could they be planning? Please review~!<strong>


	5. Drunk at the Disco

**Sorry for such a short chapter, but in the next one they climb the mountain, and that needs a chapter all to itself~ Enjoy the randomness!**

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><p><span>Chapter 5: Drunk at the Disco<span>

_5:00 p.m.  
><em>When the disco started, the hall was dark and the music was loud. There was a table with orange squash and water in little plastic cups arranged on it, but Ivan had discreetly spiked them all with vodka, while some of the less subtle nations had just dumped their bottles and cans of alcohol next to the cups. Mostly the teens were mingling on the dancefloor or hanging around the sides. Nobody was dancing – yet.

Tino and Berwald were hanging out with their fellow Nordics. Mathias was throwing the squash down his throat like no end; he had realised the sneaky alcohol addition, unlike Tino, who was unaware that he was actually drinking nine-tenths strong vodka. Berwald had taken one sip and spat it back into the cup, while Christian had refused any refreshment at all. Aisu had wandered off somewhere holding a drink, but they weren't sure whether he was actually drinking it. When a new song started, Tino grinned tipsily and said, "Remember this song, Berwald? They played it at the first dance we went to together?"  
>"Mm-hm." The Swedish boy blushed. "I r'm'mb'r."<br>"Dance with me!" Tino grabbed Berwald's hand, dragged him into the middle of the dancefloor and wrapped his arms around the taller boy's neck, pressing their bodies together. Berwald was slightly embarrassed – Tino was obviously a bit drunk. But… Tino was adorable, clinging to him and swaying the to beat of the music… Berwald let out a sigh and pressed his lips to the top of the Finn's fluffy blond hair.

Kiku watched the Nordic couple whisper things to each other as they danced. They were very close for a dance in public, and the way they looked at each other – it wasn't exactly decent. It was embarrassing.  
>"Do you wish you were in their shoes?" Francis leant on Kiku's shoulder, an air of relaxation emanating from him.<br>"Ha – what?" Kiku shook his head vigorously. "It's not correct to be so intimate in public," he muttered.  
>"Would it be correct if it was you and, well, a certain <em>Greek<em>?" purred Francis. You see, he was very interested in the blossoming couple. He wanted them together; bang goes the theory that he wanted to jump everyone he saw. He did like seeing other couples together as well.  
>Kiku blushed furiously. He was never going to hear the end of this! He knew it was a mistake to put that relationship update on Facebook! Francis just winked at him knowingly and handed him a drink.<br>"It's orange squash," the French boy told the Japanese boy, before walking away. _With a lot of vodka_, he conveniently forgot to mention.

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><p><em>6:00 p.m.<br>_After one hour, everybody was at least a bit drunk, especially the girls. Elizabeta was getting a bit impatient to put her plan into action, when –

_"I know a place Where the grass is really greener…"  
><em>"It's our song!" shrieked Elizabeta, rounding up all the girls. "Remember, when the chorus starts, that's when we do it!"  
>The girls nodded drunkenly – apart from Lili, who had stayed away from all the drinks.<p>

"_You could travel the world  
>But nothing comes close<br>To the Golden Coast  
>Once you party with us<br>You'll be falling in love  
>Oooooh oh oooooh!"<em>

"Now!" the girls cried in unison, beginning to rip off each others clothes. Lili squealed as Elizabeta unzipped the back of her pink frock, feeling the cold air of the hall on her skin. She blushed as she saw quite a few boys staring at her.

"_California girls  
>We're unforgettable<br>Daisy Dukes  
>Bikinis on top<br>Sun-kissed skin  
>So hot<br>We'll melt your Popsicle  
>Oooooh oh oooooh!"<em>

Soon all the girls - minus Lili, who had run off in a fit of extreme embarrassment to hide somehwere - were dancing around in their swimsuits, laughing and screaming. They looked insane, or just plain wasted – which they were, of course. First the boys were shocked, but once a very drunk Gilbert joined in the mad dancing, the rest of them did. Apart from the sober ones.

Ice was hiding behind a curtain, having tossed his so-obviously-alcohol-spiked squash in the bin. He now proceeded to wait out the disco until he could go upstairs to his room. He almost didn't notce a tiny blonde figure slip behind the curtain beside him.  
>"Ah! I'm sorry," Lili apologized. "I was just so ashamed, of what they were... doing... I wanted to hide!"<br>"It's all right," Freyr deadpanned. "I'd be embarrassed too, if I were you."

The look she gave him made him regret his words.

"Sorry." He held up his hands in submission and searched for a harmless conversation topic. "...want me to zip your dress back up?" The look she gave him _then_ made him want to facepalm. So much for an innocent topic-!

Christian was standing right by the curtain, unaware that his brother was hiding away for the same reason he was. Regarding the drunken nations with scepticism, he was glad he wasn't one of them.

Raivis was shaking in the corner of the hall, watching Feliks and Toris make out like there was no tomorrow. He wondered what it was about alcohol that made some people act so strangely. He never acted like that when he'd had a few drinks.

Matthew shifted about on the dancefloor, trying to make himself look like he was dancing and enjoying himself while he was actually completely sober and feeling very self-conscious. He felt Francis' hand on his butt and jumped away, banging into Aoife and inadvertently causing something that looked uncannily like human dominoes. He may as well have been drunk, he though mournfully.

And Evan Kirkland just watched all of his cousins make fools of themselves.

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><p><strong>Lili Zwingli <strong>That was so embarrassing!

**Freyr Johansen **You were being normal, compared to the others *cough!Elizabeta!cough*

**Christian Johansen **That girl was making a complete fool of herself.

**Raivis Galante **Why is everyone fainting all over the place?

**Matthew Williams **Um Lili, I don't want to be rude, but your brother just collapsed on Gilbert who collapsed on me, and both of them are out cold. I'm scared to wake up your brother in case he shoots me, so could you do it instead?

**Lili Zwingli **No problem, Matthew. Why is everyone so drunk? It's not like there was a ton of vodka around or anything…

**Freyr Johansen **All I'll say is: I saw Ivan lurking near the drinks table.

**Matthew Williams **…I see.

**Evan Kirkland **You guys do know that we're climbing Mount Snowdon tomorrow? The ones with hangovers will find that very hard.

**Christian Johansen **It's their own fault they're so drunk they can't even comment on a Facebook post. Notice how all the people commenting are sober?

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><p><em>05:10 a.m.<br>_"So then I said, "Norge, this is not cool!" and he just stared at me like I was mental or something…" exclaimed Mathias.  
>"Shut it," groaned Arthur, wondering why he was lying on the couch in the recreation room with the Dane on the floor next to him, chattering away in his sleep.<br>"Artie? You awake?"  
>"James?" <em>Of all the people to be talking to me!<em> Arthur ground his teeth in irritation.  
>"It's me all right. I feel awful." The Scot rubbed his head.<br>"What did we drink last night?"  
>"Apparently that Russian added vodka to our drinks."<br>"Bastard," hissed Arthur, standing up and swaying dizzily. "I need to go back to bed… what are we doing today?"  
>"Evan said we're climbing that bleedin' mountain today," mumbled James.<p>

"WHAT?" shouted Arthur. "WE'RE CLIMBING SNOWDON TODAY?"  
>"Shut up!" chorused a group of voices. Arthur turned to see most of his peers sprawled out on the floor or each other in some way. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced at his watch and jumped.<br>"It's five in the morning!" he announced. "Everyone get your lazy arses up and get ready! We're leaving for Snowdonia in one hour!"  
>Various mumbles, moans and even one shout of dissent was all the response he got, and nobody bothered to listen until Berwald stood up and said, "Arth'rs r'ght. Ev'ry'ne g't up <em>now<em>."  
>It was only under the menacing stare of the Swede that everyone began to file upstairs.<p>

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><p><strong>I'm sorry that it sucks! I need to feed this plot bunny! Forgive me! But on the plus side, these climb the mountain in small groups. Guess who'll be in Kiku's group? ;)<strong>


	6. Climbing Up The Mountain

**I am so sorry for the long wait! I had such an insane writers block for this chapter, but I've overcome it now! Bring on the hangovers! Everyone apart from the select few who were able to go on Facebook in the previous chapter has a hangover of some degree. Enjoy! (Have you noticed that Lovino is the only one that swears? Well he does a lot of swearing in this chapter, along with coming up with some odd names for India and Ireland. Just be warned).**

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><p><span>Chapter Six: Climbing Up The Mountain<span>

**Lovino Vargas **You are fucking kidding me.  
><strong>Arthur Kirkland <strong>and **Christian Johansen **like this

**Arthur Kirkland **You're in the same group as Antonio?

**Lovino Vargas **No shit, Sherlock.

**Arthur Kirkland **Git! I was trying to be sympathetic! And you shouldn't use my own characters against me!

**Evan Kirkland **I'm sorry about the way the groups worked out, but I needed people of similar fitness to be in the same groups! :(

**Arthur Kirkland **Nobody's blaming you, Evan.

**Lovino Vargas **I'm blaming him, eyebrow bastard!

**Vash Zwingli **IS THAT WHY MY LITTLE SISTER ISN'T IN MY GROUP?

**Berwald Oxensternia **I'm sorry, but I don't like the idea of not being in the same group as my wife.

**Natalia Arlovskaya **I WILL BE WITH BIG BROTHER! WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!

**Evan Kirkland **…Are they always like this?

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><p>"Artiiiiiieeeeee…" whined the hungover James, who became even more annoying in his post-drunken state. He was trying to shuffle into the empty seat beside Arthur, who kept pushing him violently into the aisle of the coach while everyone else huddled in their seats, heads ringing.<br>"Bugger off, Scotland," growled the equally hungover Arthur.  
>"But…"<br>"Sod off!" shouted Arthur, earning glares from the rest of the coach. "Just piss off and sit somewhere else!"  
>The upset Scot shuffled to the back of the coach and sat in the middle seat, not caring that nobody was coming to sit by him.<p>

When the group was finally on it's way to Snowdonia, Arthur ended up listening to his iPod while sitting next to a silent Netherlands.  
>"Lars…" The English boy inhaled deeply. "Why do you smell of wacky backy?"<br>"Wha-?" mumbled Lars groggily.  
>"Wacky backy?" Arthur rolled his eyes. "Weed?"<br>"Weed?" Vash, who was sitting in front of them, twisted his head round and scowled at them. "Be quiet, I don't want you influencing my sister!" He nodded to the tiny blonde girl sitting next to him, currently buried in a book. Arthur snorted.  
>"It's not us you want to be worrying about, mate. Did you see how pissed you were yesterday?"<br>"I wasn't angry yesterday…" Vash said in a confused tone.  
>"No, I mean pissed, as in sloshed. Plastered."<br>"What nonsense are you talking?" The Swiss boy glared at him.

Arthur mentally faceplamed. He was using English phrases that nobody would understand!  
>"I mean drunk," he clarified. "Anyway, your sister saw you dancing around drunk off your face, same as everyone else. And she had to drag you into the corner of the hall when you collapsed onto Gilbert and Matthew." He chuckled at Vash's horrified expression as the Swiss boy struggled to recollect any of those events.<p>

Kiku rubbed his head. He had drunk some of the spiked drinks the night before, although not so many that he had been completely 'sloshed', as Arthur would say. He had gotten a bit dizzy from some mindless dancing but had snapped out of it when Felicano had barrelled into him and knocked him into a wall (he probably had a bruise on his forehead, the Japanese boy mused…). When Heracles had practically fallen asleep standing up – his narcolepsy plus alcohol had turned him into a walking zombie – Kiku had decided that enough was enough and dragged the Greek boy back into their dorm where they had both gone to bed early and done nothing else. As was the nature of the straight-laced Japan.  
>Suddenly, Kiku's phone vibrated. When he checked the text, it was from a number he didn't recognise:<br>_I put him in the same group as you. Good luck. Evan._  
>Torn between gratitude and embarrassment, Kiku blushed and whispered a silent thank-you to whoever was watching over him. Hopefully today he would face his fear and finally tell Heracles his feelings.<p>

At eight o'clock, one hour after they'd set off, the group arrived in Snowdonia. Evan stood at the front of the group, reading out the group lists.  
>"There are four groups. Group 4 can take it easy, whereas Groups 1, 2 and 3 are expected to reach the summit of the mountain." The Welsh boy allowed himself a small smile. "For Group 3 it's impressive, for Group 2 it's expected, and for Group 1, it's downright shameful if you don't get there. But reaching the top shouldn't be a problem, because I've arranged the groups according to fitness and athletic ability. I am sure you've all seen the group lists…" He frowned as he remembered the various angry Facebook outbursts he'd seen that morning, "…but for those who can't remember, here are the groups. Please get into the groups as I say them.<p>

Group 4: North Italy, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Japan, Iceland and Greece. You six are taking route number four, highlighted on these maps." He handed a bunch of maps to Kiku.

"Group 3: America, Norway, China, Poland, Estonia, Belarus, Belgium, Seychelles, Ukraine, Finland, France and Austria. Route three." He gave the maps to Roderich.

"Group 2: Northern Ireland, England, Ireland, Lithuania, Canada, Switzerland, South Italy, Spain, Hungary, India, Netherlands and Australia. Route two." Toris was elected as map-holder.

"And Group 1: Prussia, Germany, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark…" Evan blushed slightly, "and me."  
>There were whoops (James), shouts of anger (Lovino), protests about being away from siblings (Vash and Natalia), quiet appreciation (Kiku and the Ireland twins), and of course a statement from everybody's 'favourite' hero.<br>"What? Dude, why am I in Group 3? Are you saying that the hero is too unfit to scale a little mountain like this?"  
>Evan looked at him in a calculating way and said, "Well, you do eat a lot of McDonalds." This earned him a cheer from his relatives. "When you reach the café at the top, please tell the man behind the counter that your group has arrived and ask if any other groups have been and gone. You may split into smaller groups while walking, but please stay together. Everyone must stick to their routes, for their own safety." And on that note, the groups dispersed and set off their four separate ways up Mount Snowdon.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Nine o'clock: Group 4<br>_"Ve~ I have a headache…" moaned Feliciano.  
>"Are you alright?" asked Lili, placing a concerned hand on the Italian's arm. "Would you like a painkiller?"<br>"Yes please!"  
>"Um…" Kiku was loath to trouble the girl, but the pounding in his temples was making climbing the mountain even harder that it would have been. "I hate to trouble you, Lili-san, but please may I have one as well?"<br>"Of course!" The girl popped four Paracetamol tablets from the packet in her rucksack and handed them to Feliciano and Kiku. "Do you need some too, Heracles?" The Greek boy didn't answer, preferring to keep putting one foot in front of the other with a look of deep concentration on his face.  
>"Oh dear…" Lili looked around at the three older boys and realised that she was the only one without a hangover – she had to take care of them, she decided. So she took Heracles' hand in her left and Feliciano's in her right and led them up the path.<p>

Behind her, Raivis and Freyr were watching her.  
>"She's so kind…" sighed the Latvian, knowing that he didn't have a chance in hell with a girl like that (and her brother).<br>"It's unbelievable really," nodded the Icelandic, "how she's taken them all under her wing even though they're older than her." Dammit, he could practically Mathias laughing at him!  
>The two boys stared at each other.<br>"No point being rivals…" Freyr muttered, his face taking on his customary deadpan look.  
>"Her brother won't let either of us have her…" agreed Raivis, sighing unhappily. And on that note, the two boys hurried to catch up with the rest of their group.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Nine o'clock: Group 3<em>  
>"Dude, this is hard," wheezed Alfred, beginning to lag slightly from his place at the front of the group. Yao rolled his eyes and winced as his head throbbed angrily.<br>"Evan was right, you are unfit," he remarked. "We have to climb like this for about six hours, so you'd better get used to it." The American stopped and gaped at him. "Six hours?"  
>Yao nodded.<br>"Ugh, and I'm hungover too," Alfred cried, loud enough to make Yao wince, although his own hangover probably didn't help matters.

"Get away from me, pervert," hissed Natalia , twisting Francis' wrist as it made it's way around her shoulders. Her hangover made her even nastier than usual.  
>"Sister, please!" Yekaterina, who became a lot more tearful in the mornings after drinking, touched her arm pleadingly but Natalia slapped the hand away.<br>"I wasn't doing anything!" protested the French boy. "I just needed something to lean on… I am still not feeling so good from all the alcohol last night…"  
>"That's your own fault!" snapped Natalia. "I won't be unfaithful to Big Brother!"<br>"Anyway, you had a good time last night, Francis!" argued Shelly. _You made out with me, so you must have enjoyed it, right? _she prayed silently.

"Remind me never to drink again," moaned Roderich, pinching the bridge of his nose.  
>"Okay," Bella tried to smile, taking a Paracetamol. "Oh, Roderich, I wanted to ask you something. What would you do if you liked someone but didn't know how to approach them?"<br>Roderich looked up curiously, forgetting his god-awful hangover for a minute.  
>"You…?" he trailed off. Bella nodded. "Who is it?"<br>"Not saying." The Belgian tapped the side of her nose. "But I will say that's he's always surrounded by his cousins."  
>"One of the Kirklands?" The blush said it all. "It depends on which one it is. Don't even bother with Arthur, he's got his hands full with that demented James – which means you shouldn't bother with him either. The other two are decent though, so just start a friendly conversation, and all will be well."<br>He didn't catch the look of disappointment on Bella's face.

"I wonder if Su-san has scared anyone very badly," wondered Tino. "He does get scarier when he doesn't feel well. But it'll all be okay," he added optimistically, as was his nature even though he had a dry throat and a pounding head.  
>"I hope Raivis is okay," said Eduard, straightening his glasses worriedly.<br>"I'm so bored without Liet!" whined Feliks, brushing his hair out of his face.  
>"You three are such whiners," deadpanned Christian, watching them all with his inexpressive eyes. "Just be happy to have some time away from your lovers."<br>Tino sighed, Eduard choked ("I am not romantically involved with Raivis in any way!") and Feliks snapped, "Well, you're totally not doing anything to like, lighten the mood! We should have a sing-along or something!"  
>"Sing?" Tino grinned. "<em>Nuapurista kuulu se polokan tahti jalakani pohjii kutkutti<em>…" he began to chant that oh-so-famous song.  
>His friends groaned.<br>"Thanks, Poland," said Christian sarcastically. "Now we'll have to listen to that ridiculous 'Ievan Polkka' song for the next ten hours."

* * *

><p><em>10 o'clock: Group Two<em>  
>"I am forever indebted to Evan," muttered Arthur, fighting off his hangover with frequent sips of water, not even wanting to imagine what this climb would have been like with James twittering in his ear.<br>"You alright, twin?" asked Aoife, offering a Maoam to Cian. He grunted and took the sweet, turning up the volume on his iPod. "Well, fine then, be like that," she huffed.  
>"I wouldn't be offended," advised Steve. He was Australia, and had managed to keep to the shadows until the previous night, where James, Arthur, Cian and him had had a drinking competition and had all ended up with terrible hangovers. "He drank a lot last night."<p>

"Fuck the hell off, Antonio," growled Lovino, walking quickly to avoid the Spaniard.  
>"But Lovi…" Antonio whined, jogging to catch up with his Italian boyfriend.<br>"I said fuck off!"  
>"You need to stop taking out your bad mood on Tonio," chided Lakshmi.<br>"Who asked you, curry bitch?" snarled Lovino.  
>"I will pretend I didn't hear that." Lakshmi resisted the urge to push him off the edge of the mountain. Curry bitch! If there was anything she hated more than hookers, it was rudeness, and she was in a bad mood anyway.<br>"Who are you calling curry bitch!" demanded Vash, jabbing a finger into Lovino's chest. "You will never call her that again, understand? Or I will make you sorry!"  
>Lovino scowled and walked faster.<br>"I would get out my camera but I'm feeling too damn sick," groaned Elizabeta, brushing her fringe out of her eyes. "I don't think I'll ever drink so much again."

"Take this, Lars." Toris pressed the nearly-empty packet of painkillers into the Dutch boy's hand.  
>Lars looked at it for a second.<br>"Is this your last painkiller?" he croaked. His head was pulsing and his eyes were aching. Drinking quite so much alcohol then rolling three joints probably hadn't been the best idea in the world, he though dully.  
>"Yeah, but it doesn't matter, I'll be fine," Toris smiled weakly, trying to ignore the horrible sick feeling that plagued his stomach.<br>"No, I won't take it." Lars shook his head and made to hand the pills back but Toris refused.  
>"I feel fine anyway. Never better!" he tried to grin, but it came out in an odd grimace. "I insist, Lars. You must be feeling so much worse than me, what with your hangover <em>and<em> a weed crash."  
>Lars smiled inside at his friend's kindness and pretended to put the box into his poacket. When Toris finally turned around he slipped the painkillers into the side compartment of Toris' backpack. He breathed a sigh... only to have another pack of Paracetamol thrust at him. He turned his hazel-coloured to the violet eyes of the person looking up at him.<br>"I know you feel like crap," Matthew said softly. "You need these a lot more than I do." The gratitude in Lars' eyes was all he needed to feel buoyed up with happiness.

* * *

><p><em>12 o'clock: Group One<em>  
>"Come on," sighed Evan despairingly, surveying his group. "We should have covered double the distance we have now!"<br>Ivan and Ludwig were the only two walking beside him; the others were behind. The whole group – minus Evan, of course – were staggering under the combined weight of rucksacks and their worst hangovers to date. Yup, these guys were the fittest but they were also the heaviest drinkers.

"You," said Evan, pointing at Ivan, "Why did you have to go and pour ten litres of vodka into the juice last night?"  
>"I thought... it would liven things... up a bit, da? I suppose... I might have overestimated... how much we really... needed..."<br>"Too right." The Welsh boy rolled his eyes and turned to the other four. "You guys, hurry it up! Do you need more tablets?" he called loudly (partly because they were quite a way behind, but partly because he knew that it would cause them pain. He did have a slightly sadistic streak).  
>"It is <em>not<em> awesome to shout like that," winced Gilbert, running his hand through his already messy hair. "This is the most unawesome hangover I've ever had and now we have to climb this unawesome mountain..." he grumbled under is breath.  
>"N'd m're p'nk'll'rs," grunted Berwald.<br>Mathias didn't answer, preferring to rush over to a nearby boulder and throw up behind it. Evan rolled his eyes. _When_ he drank, he could at least hold his hangover.  
>"I think we should play a game to distract us from our hangovers," chirped James, being even more annoying than usual. "Yeah, let's play I-Spy, shall we? I'll start! I spy with my little eye, something beginning with..." He glanced around. "Something beginning with 'E'."<br>"Evan," deadpanned the Welsh boy.  
>"How did you know?" gaped the Scot.<br>"Because you've always played like that, even when we were little kids."  
>"Pff, okay, I won't guess you this time," scoffed James. "Okay, I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'B'!"<br>Evan glanced around. "Berwald."  
>"No way! How did you guess? Whatever, I'm having another turn. Something beginning with 'L'!"<br>"Ludwig?" guessed Ludwig. When he was right, the German resisted the urge to tear his hair out. This guy looked tall and tough, but he acted just like Feliciano.

* * *

><p><em>1 o'clock: Group Two<em>  
>"We've rested long enough! Let's get moving!"<br>"Shut the fuck up, eyebrow bastard! I'm still tired!"  
>"I'm also still tired, can't we rest for five minutes more?"<br>"Well... fine then, Lakshmi."  
>"How come you bend to her, eyebrow bastard?"<br>"Oh shut up."  
>"Nobody asked your opinion... shamrock bitch."<br>"..._Shamrock_ bitch? Really?"

* * *

><p><em>2 o'clock: Group Three<em>  
>"So... tired..."<br>"Oh, Alfred, you were always such the drama queen."  
>"How come you aren't exhausted, Roddy? All you do is sit inside all day!"<br>"But I know how to control myself around food. Thus, I am not hideously unfit."  
>"<em>Muorille sanon jotta tukkee suusi en ruppee sun terveyttäs takkoomaa...<em>"  
>"Like, Tino, can you totally stop singing that seriously annoying song? 'Cause I, like, feel like I'm about to throw up here and your voice is totally not helping."<p>

* * *

><p><em>2:30: At the top of Mount Snowdon<br>_"We made it!" cheered Feliciano. "Ve, I'm so hungry! Do they sell pasta here?" he asked eagerly, scanning the small cafe.  
>"I don't think so," Kiku said quietly, leading Heracles over to an empty table where the Greek promptly lay down his head and fell asleep.<br>"That's a shame..." Feliciano looked sad for a moment before spotting the vending machines and scurrying off to buy chocolate. Kiku went with him.

"Excuse me sir?" Lili asked the man behind the counter, with a nametag that said 'Gavin' on it. She remembered Evan's instructions. "I'm sorry to trouble you, but do you know if any of our friends have arrived?"  
>"Are you Evan's lot?" smiled Gavin kindly – he obviously knew Evan very well. When Lili nodded, he thought for a moment and said, "No, you six are the first. Well done!"<br>"The first?" Freyr asked in a confused tone.  
>"The first," Gavin confirmed. "Wow, usually the top group are with Evan. Unless Evan's around here somewhere?" He craned his neck to search the cafe.<br>"We aren't with Evan," said Raivis quietly. "We're the lowest group. The one he said wouldn't reach the top." Gavin looked shocked, and started to laugh.  
>"I'd hurry back down if I were you, just to show off that you were first!"<br>"Thank you sir," said Lili politely.

When they left the cafe, everyone started to laugh, even sleepy Heracles, and they began to walk as fast as they could. They couldn't wait to see the looks on everybody's faces when they realised they'd been beaten by Group Four.

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued~<strong>


	7. Climbing Down The Mountain

**I am so so sorry for the longest ever update time! I had evil writers block on this front :( Hopefully I can churn out a chapter before I leave for Devon on Saturday... I'm trying to focus more of Kiku and Heracles in this chapter. And by the way, Welsh ice cream does actually make people act hyper and crazy. It's happened to me. On with the show!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Seven: Climbing Down The Mountain<span>

"We were first~ we were first~!" sang Feliciano, skipping down the mountainside. He'd been like that for the past three hours, ever since they'd started their descent of Snowdon. It was probably the Aero bar, though Kiku. How the Italian could get high on a chocolate bar that was half_ air_, the Japanese boy didn't quite understand.  
>Lili jogged after him, laughing, while Freyr and Raivis walked quickly behind her, trying to pretend they weren't worried for her safety. This left Kiku and Heracles alone, strolling behind, enjoying the sunshine and the whispering breeze.<br>"…They have a crush on her," stated Heracles, gesturing to Raivis and Freyr.  
>"They do," replied Kiku, nodding. '<em>And I have a crush on you'.<em> Dammit, he couldn't force the words out! "Heracles, I – I –"  
>"Yes?" The Greek turned his head and looked at Kiku with his beautiful green eyes. Kiku blushed scarlet. It was now or never, now or never, now or never…<br>"I just wanted to tell you that –"  
>"<em>Aaaaaaaarrrghhh!<em>" A bloodcurdling scream split the air, cutting Kiku off as both boys whipped around, searching for the source of the cry.  
>"Ve! Kiku, come quickly!" came the well-known sob of Feliciano. "It's Lili!"<p>

* * *

><p><em>Five o'clock: The coach, at the base of the mountain<br>_"Is everyone here?" called Evan, standing at the front of the coach, trying in vain to get the attention of the chattering nations. Sighing, he mumbled, "I'm just going to assume everyone's here."  
>"Wait, Evan," said Arthur, who was sitting alone in the very front seat (avoiding James, again). "I haven't seen Lili, Heracles or Kiku."<br>"Where's my sister?" shouted Vash angrily. The whole coach went silent.

"We're sorry for our lateness," came a quiet voice. Kiku, Heracles and Lili had appeared in the door of the coach, the two boys supporting the blonde girl, who had a bandage around her ankle and red-rimmed eyes.  
>"Lili!" Vash exclaimed. "What happened?" He rounded on Heracles and Kiku. "What did you do to her?" he growled.<br>"They didn't do anything, brother!" Lili assured him, hopping forwards, unable to put her left foot on the ground. The Japanese and Greek boys steadied her. "I just slipped and fell on the mountain. I'm fine," she bit her lip, "but I can't walk very well."  
>"You need to sit down," Evan said, gesturing to the spare seat next to Arthur.<br>"Like hell she'll sit there! My sister will sit next to me!"  
>"Why put her through unnecessary pain?" countered the Welsh boy. "This seat is closest."<br>"Fine," muttered the Swiss boy. "But only because it's for her wellbeing."  
>Shooting Arthur an angry glare as if it was his fault Lili was injured, he sat back in his seat and pulled out a Nintendo DS, resigning himself to taking out his anger on some baddies in a violent game.<p>

As soon as Lili sat down, she blushed deeply. The blonde girl had always had a secret crush on Arthur, but now that she was sitting next to him, just them two, for the next hour, she was completely tongue-tied.  
>"What happened?" asked Arthur, looking concerned. Lili blushed harder.<br>"N-nothing," she mumbled. "I just tripped and fell."  
>They sat in a slightly awkward silence for a few minutes. Eventually Arthur pulled out his iPod<em>. I must be boring him<em>, thought Lili sadly. What she didn't count on was Arthur handing her one of the earphones.

"Do you want to share my iPod?" he smiled. Lili smiled back and nodded vigorously, putting the earphone in. A familiar introduction was playing, and then the words started:

'_You would not believe your eyes  
>If ten million fireflies<br>Lit up the world as I fell asleep…"_

"I love this song," whispered Lili.  
>"So do I," Arthur murmured back. They shared a smile as Lili felt her eyes slowly drifting shut. The last thing on her mind was how comfortable Arthur's shoulder was as the coach rocked her to sleep along the winding Welsh road.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Matthias Køhler <strong>wrote on **Christian Johansen**'s Wall ARE YOU MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE? :P

**Matthias Køhler **wrote on **Freyr Johansen**'s Wall ARE YOU MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE? :P

**Matthias Køhler **wrote on **Berwald Oxenstiernia**'s Wall ARE YOU MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE? :P

**Matthias Køhler **wrote on **Antonio Fernandez Carriedo**'s Wall ARE YOU MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE? :P

**Matthias Køhler **wrote on **Lovino Vargas**'s Wall ARE YOU MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE? :P

**Lovino Vargas **What the fuck is wrong with you, retard?  
><strong>Freyr Johansen <strong>likes this

**Matthias Køhler **ARE YOU MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE?

**Christian Johansen **He's spamming people's walls with this irritating phrase that he got off the television

**Lovino Vargas **I know that, dumbass! I just want him to stop!

**Christian Johansen** We all do. Unfortunately, I don't think he will.

**Matthias Køhler **THIS IS THE RIGHT CHOICE!

* * *

><p>"Do you, like, have any sandwiches left, Liet?"<br>"No…" groaned Toris, shutting his eyes. He was feeling horribly travel-sick, and Feliks talking about food was definitely not helping.  
>"What about, like, some chocolate?"<br>"No." Toris licked his lips slowly.  
>"An orange? I know you totally packed an orange this morning."<br>"No." A bead of sweat rolled down the back of the Lithuanian's neck. He couldn't swallow. He didn't want to be sick, he didn't want to be sick, he didn't want to be sick, he didn't want to be sick –  
>"What do you want for dinner this evening?" asked Feliks, oblivious to his boyfriend's discomfort. "Because those potatoes last night were rank, way too bland, but tonight apparently there'll be sausages, so hopefully that'll be, like, better. You like sausages, right? And bread, right?"<br>"Feliks please stop talking!" Toris choked out, clamping a hand over his mouth as he fought the urge to be sick.  
>"Like, oh my God, Liet, what's wrong?" Feliks gasped, finally noticing Toris' predicament. "Your face is totally grey! Are you feeling sick?"<br>Toris nodded, squinching his eyes shut. Feliks rubbed his back soothingly and said loudly, "Hey, how long is it until we get back to the hostel?"  
>"Forty minutes," Evan called. Feliks tutted.<br>"Well, can't you like, get the driver dude to hurry up or something? Liet's feeling totally sick here!"  
>Toris smiled slightly behind his hand. Feliks was being completely unreasonable, but the Pole was being unreasonable for <em>him<em>, Toris. And that made him very happy indeed.

* * *

><p><strong>Christian Johansen <strong>wrote on **Freyr Johansen**'s Wall Are you okay?

**Freyr Johansen **Why wouldn't I be okay?

**Christian Johansen **You just seem down.

**Freyr Johansen **I'm not.

**Christian Johansen **You can tell me.

**Freyr Johansen **Why would I tell you?

**Christian Johansen **Because I'm your big brother!

**Freyr Johansen **…Don't even go there.

**Christian Johansen **Well, just know that I'm here for you.

**Freyr Johansen **Thanks, I suppose.

**Matthias Køhler **THAT WAS THE RIGHT CHOICE, NORGE!

* * *

><p>"Lakshmi, please pass me a tissue," said Elizabeta thickly, pinching her nose, trying to stop the nosebleed she was having from watching Berwald and Tino make out in their seats a few rows in front of them. The Indian girl sighed and threw her a whole packet of tissues – God knows she'd need them!<br>"So, how's Operation Get-Vash-A-Girl coming?" asked the Hungarian.  
>"Badly," said Lakshmi, downcast. "Roderich told me that Bella has a crush on somebody, one of the Kirklands."<br>"Damn. That limits us to two girls: Yekaterina and Aoife. What's the plan for this evening?"  
>"Games night." Lakshmi racked her brains for an idea. "I think Aoife likes games. Maybe we should try her tonight?"<br>"Good idea." Elizabeta wiped her nose again, but the blood was still coming. Damn those adorable boys and their steamy kiss-fest! "Now, here's the big question: Do we tell her, or do we set them up _secretly_?"  
>Both girls were silent for about two seconds, before saying in unison, "<em>Secretly<em>."

Kiku jolted awake as the coach rode over a particularly large bump in the road.  
>He was leaning backwards, legs curled up to his chest in the seat, sitting sideways in the seat with his feet facing towards the aisle. His back was against Heracles' chest, and the Greek boy's arms were around his shoulders.<br>Wait. What?  
>"Uwah!" he exclaimed loudly, lurching forwards. He would have fallen out of the seat if not for the trusty seatbelt. He had been sleeping like that, pressed up against Heracles, in public…! The Japanese boy went bright red.<br>"You do go a funny colour when you're embarrassed," remarked a voice from behind him.  
>"Wha – ?" Kiku twisted to see the freckled face and chin-length red hair of Cian Kirkland, who smiled at him.<br>"You get embarrassed a lot, don't you?" he asked knowingly.  
>"I suppose so," mumbled Kiku. He didn't really want a stranger knowing his private business. But… Cian was related to Arthur, maybe he would be as kind and understanding as Arthur?<br>"If you love the guy that much, why don't you just tell him?"  
>"I-It's not that simple!" stuttered Kiku.<br>"Why not?" Cian raised an eyebrow. "He don't look like the type of guy to say no, mate." Then he leaned close. "There's an ice cream parlour just down the road from the hostel. Now, there's something in Evan's ice cream… None of us know what it is, but it's magical."  
>When Kiku raised his eyebrows critically, he continued, "I'm serious! Take your boy there this evening. Buy an ice cream. See where it'll lead you." Cian leaned back.<br>Kiku thanked him and quickly stole a glance at Heracles, who was sleeping peacefully. Heracles liked ice cream – surely one wouldn't hurt – and what was the worst that could happen?

* * *

><p><em>6:30 p.m., Games Night<em>

The German brothers, Aoife, and James were sitting on the couch, watching Arthur and Alfred play tennis on the Wii.  
>"I won again," grinned Arthur.<br>"This isn't fair!" exclaimed Alfred. "You invented this dumbass game, you're obviously going to be better at it! If it was baseball or something I'd win!"  
>"Would you like to bet on that?" growled the English boy. "I think you'll find that your baseball derived from cricket and rounders, both of which are English games!"<br>"Why don't we play a wee bit of golf?" suggested James.  
>"No," moaned Alfred. "'Cause then <em>you'll <em>win!"  
>"Why don't we just do bowling?" sighed Ludwig, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. "Nobody can agree where it originated, therefore nobody will have the upper hand."<br>"West is right!" shouted Gilbert. "Even though such an awesome game will obviously have come from the awesome me!"

After a brief discussion (translation: argument, mainly consisting of 'the hero wants to be on Artie's team!', 'tough luck git, I don't want to be on your team' and 'his Awesomness should have his own team and will totally own you all') the group split up into the Blonds – Arthur, Alfred and Ludwig – and the Awesomes – Gilbert, James and Aoife. Both groups were named by Gilbert, who managed to commandeer the controller, much to the dismay of everyone else.

"Heracles?" Kiku gently shook his Greek friend awake. "Do you want to come with me to get some ice cream?"  
>After a moment of thought, Heracles nodded. The taller boy stood up and both made their way over to Evan, who was playing Jenga with the Baltics, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.<br>"Excuse me, Evan-san, please may Heracles and I go to the ice cream parlour?"  
>"Hm?" Evan looked up just as he pulled out a brick. The tower wobbled dangerously, threatening to fall.<br>"Damn it, Wales, watch what you're doing!" shouted Vash, jumping up. The edge of his coat smacked into the already unsteady tower. With a crash it fell.  
>"Oh dear," said Evan in an embarrassed way, as if he had been the one who'd knocked the tower down while shouting at someone else for almost knocking it down. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to skip the next game. Good luck! Let's go," he nodded to Kiku and Heracles. "I have to come with you and supervise."<br>"Supervise?"  
>"You guys are my responsibility," Evan shrugged. "I have to supervise. I'll just see you down there, don't worry." He winked saying the last few words, causing Kiku to blush (again…).<p>

"And now it is the awesome me's turn!" Gilbert snatched the controller off Alfred and stood prepared to swing and bowl. The rest of his team stood behind him.  
>"<em>U-u-u-u-und<em>… BOWL!" The Prussian screeched, throwing him arm out wildly.  
>Not only did he get a gutter ball, he whacked Aoife in the face with the controller.<br>"_Cac!_" she hissed, clutching her nose, which was now bleeding. "You idiot!"  
>"Oops," sniggered Gilbert.<br>"Oops indeed, mate," chuckled Arthur. "You're really in for it now."  
>"What?" The Prussian turned to face Aoife, only to be greeted with a fist in the face.<p>

Evan escorted the pair to the ice cream parlour, waved them goodbye, and then headed in the opposite direction, into the town. Kiku watched him go. Why did he not head back to the hostel? Why go into town at nearly seven in the evening when most shops would be shut?  
>"Let's get the ice cream." Heracles nudged Kiku on the arm and motioned for them to enter the parlour. Inside was quite small but nice nonetheless, with a kindly looking woman standing behind the counter.<p>

"_Beth hoffech chi?_" she asked. When she was greeted with blank (Heracles) and embarrassed (Kiku) looks, she switched to English.  
>"What would you like?" she asked in a singsong Welsh accent.<br>"A chocolate ice cream with marshmallows, please," replied Heracles.  
>"Please may I have one vanilla ice cream with sprinkles?" asked Kiku. The lady chuckled.<br>"So polite! You don't get many polite young men nowadays. Not counting that lovely Evan who comes here nearly every day!" The woman nattered away to the boys as she got their ice cream. Once they had paid and taken their cones, the boys left the parlour and strolled slowly up the street.

"How am I going to eat all this?" fretted Kiku, staring at the large ice cream in his hand.  
>"Why don't we go to the beach to eat it?" suggested Heracles. He'd already taken a few licks of his chocolate scoop, and had eaten half the marshmallows.<br>They turned to make their way to the small stony beach that was situated at the end of the road. Both boys were steadily making their way through the ice cream – never mind the 'magic', as Cian put it, it too delicious to wait until they had reached the beach. By the time they had gotten there, the sun was setting and the ice cream was half gone.

"Kiku…"  
>"Yes, Heracles-kun?"<br>"Who have you had sex with?" Japan choked on his mouthful, and Greece patted him on the back.  
>"<em>What<em> did you just ask me?" coughed the darker-haired boy, convinced he had misheard.  
>"Who have you had sex with?" Heracles asked again, clearly. Kiku blushed to the roots of his hair.<br>"N-nobody!" Heracles eyed him.  
>"I find that hard to believe."<br>"What?"  
>"Well, look at you." Heracles gestured to his friend in a swooping hand movement. "You're so adorable, how could you not have lost your virginity by now?" Heracles had called him adorable! But a horribly wrong situation!<br>"I-I can assure you that I, um, I still have my vir –"  
>"Was it China?"<br>" – ity – NO!" Kiku was starting to feel a bit light-headed. "M-most definitely not!"  
>"America?"<br>"No!" Kiku shook his head furiously. "I don't like Alfred-kun in that way!"  
>"Then it has to be England." Heracles folded him arms.<br>"No, no, no! None of them!" Oddly, Kiku didn't feel embarrassed that he was making such a spectacle of himself, shouting like this, but then again, it was only him and Heracles.

The Greek boy's face darkened. "…Russia?"  
>"Of course not!" Japan snapped, irritably taking another lick of his ice cream. "I'd be dead. But I'm <em>trying<em> to tell you that –"  
>Heracles' expression only got worse.<br>"Was it… Turkey?" he growled.  
>"No!" Kiku was starting to get angry. Time and time again, he was saying that he hadn't had sex with anyone, but Heracles wasn't acknowledging his protests! "Why won't you listen to me?" he shouted. "I'm trying to tell you that I haven't slept with anybody, but you aren't listening! You never listen to me! You're always sleeping!" He finished his little rant and stared at Heracles hard. The boy was regarding him with a thoughtful look on his face.<br>"…I do listen." "No you don't! You probably weren't even listening to what I was saying even a second ago! You were probably just having another nap!"  
>"I wasn't. And I won't. Not ever again."<br>"W-What?" Kiku realised now how hot his face was, and how hard he was breathing. _I just shouted at Heracles. _

"I won't ever sleep while I'm with you again, Kiku. I promise." The Greek boy punctuated his last two words with a tiny smile. "I'll always listen to you, whatever you have to say."  
>"Really?"<br>"Of course." Heracles slung his arm around Kiku's thin shoulders. "Should we head back?"  
>"Yes," Kiku mumbled, embarrassed at his outburst.<p>

As they walked back up to the hostel, Heracles said, "You really should open up more often."  
>"No! It would be rude!"<br>"It's not rude if I want you to, Kiku." They walked along in silence for a moment.  
>"It was the ice cream," admitted the Japanese boy. "Cian Kirkland said that it was magical… I think it must make people act out of the ordinary."<br>"But not in a bad way." Heracles moved so that his mouth was right up against Kiku's ear. "To tell you the truth, I liked it," he whispered. Kiku suppressed a shiver. "You should act like that more often, okay?"  
>"If that is what you want," he whispered back, looping his arm around Heracles' waist. Perhaps now it would be easier to reveal his feelings?<p>

When they arrived back at the hostel, they found Prussia with a split lip and broken nose, surrounded by Ludwig, Feliciano, Antonio and Francis, while Aoife was being heartily congratulated by Elizabeta, Lakshmi and other such Gilbert-haters.  
>"Oh, Kiku!" called Arthur from where across the room. "Where did Evan run off to? We need him to get the First Aid kit!"<br>"Don't worry, I'm here." Evan appeared in the doorway. Kiku jumped. Had Evan been behind them all that time? He could have sworn they were alone!  
>"Ah, so you are." Arthur looked a bit perturbed as well. "Aoife broke Gilbert's nose, and we need the First Aid kit."<br>"Of course." Evan hurried away.

On the other side of the room, Raivis was nervously removing a brick from the Jenga tower. Slowly, slowly, he was edging it out…  
>"Hurry up, Latvia!" shouted Vash, slamming his fist down on the floor. Raivis started, inadvertently knocking the tower over.<br>"I'm sorry!" he wailed, tears welling in his eyes.  
>"Don't be upset," soothed Lili, placing her hand on his arm. Raivis tried to smile while the other two Baltics shared a knowing glance and Switzerland buried his head in his arms.<br>"I despair," he moaned. "Lakshmi is the only sane one out of all of you, I swear."  
>Lithuania glanced over to said Indian girl, where she was doing a victory dance with Hungary to celebrate Gilbert being beaten up. <em>Sane?<em> Toris wondered. _I don't think so…_

* * *

><p><strong>Elizabeta Hedervary <strong>wrote on **Lakshmi Patel**'s Wall Dammit! We forgot all about Operation G.V.A.G!

**Lakshmi Patel **He was too busy playing Jenga to notice our target!

**Elizabeta Hedervary **LAKSH! HE COULD FIGURE OUT WHO HE IS NOW!

**Lakshmi Patel **There were four boys playing Jenga, five if you count Evan before he left, I don't think he'll figure it out.

**Elizabeta Hedervary **But only one had a name beginning with V!

**Lakshmi Patel **YOU just gave it away now!

**Vash Zwingli **Are you talking about me?

**Vash Zwingli **Answer already!

**Vash Zwingli **Lakshmi, I thought you were my best friend! And now you're plotting against me?

**Lakshmi Patel **I'm not plotting! I'll explain everything tomorrow, I promise!

**Vash Zwingli **…Fine. But you'd better stick with me all day! I don't want me and Lili getting lost in the Greenwood centre!

**Elizabeta Hedervary **Don't worry, I think she'll be more than happy to ;)

**Lakshmi Patel **LIZ!

**Vash Zwingli **What?

**Elizabeta Hedervary **So dense X3

* * *

><p><strong>Phew... that was a tough one to write. The Greenwood centre is an activity place with rides and stuff, almost like a tiny theme park but with eco-friendly attractions, e.g. a rollecoaster run on solar power (I think it's solar power?). It's quite a cute place. I'm trying to dedicate the chapter almost entirely to Giripan, with the small exception of Switzy and Operation Get-Vash-A-Girl. Reviews are much appreciated~!<strong>


	8. The Ultimate Operation

**Sorry it took so long! If you haven't gotten tired of waiting around, here is Chapter 8!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 8: The Ultimate Operation<span>

03:30, Wednesday morning

China had taken a few sips of water from the sink in the bathroom of the room he shared with Russia, Japan, Greece and Iceland, and was now ready to return to bed. The room was so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, but Yao didn't want to wake anyone up by turning on the light. So he started to creep slowly out of the bathroom and back to bed, completely unaware that in the room, someone else was stirring.

Kiku groggily opened one eye. The room was pitch black and almost silent – the only things he could hear were the quiet breaths of his roommates (and the odd word from Aisu [1]). His throat was burning with thirst. He pulled himself out of bed sleepily and shuffled roughly in the direction of the bathroom door. He held his arms out in front of him blindly, like a zombie, hoping that he wouldn't trip over something and fall.

He was just about confident that he'd made it to the bathroom, when suddenly he felt something in front of him. Something warm! Kiku started, lost his balance, and fell forwards, only for his feet to be swept out from under him by a very illogically placed rucksack on the floor. He felt himself press against the warm thing before they both fell, landing hard on the carpet.

"_UWAHH!_" screamed Japan.  
>"<em>AIYAH!<em>" cried the warm thing.  
>Suddenly the bright light flickered on. Aisu was sitting up straight as a rod in his bed, his hand on the main light switch on the wall above his head, looking at them with eyes unfocused with sleep. Ivan had also woken up, and was also staring at them. However, his violet eyes were hard and angry. And Heracles, he cracked open a single eye, but it seemed to be shining brightly at Kiku, demanding to know <em>what he was doing<em>. And that was because Kiku had managed to fall on top of Yao, pressing him into the carpet.

The room was silent for a good ten seconds, the atmosphere thick and heavy with tension, everyone still. Kiku could feel himself getting redder, and underneath him (oh, how wrong that statement seemed) Yao was blushing furiously too. Finally, the uncomfortable silence was broken by Ivan, who asked, "What are you doing?" with deceptive calmness.

"This – this is not what it looks like, Ivan!" Yao choked out, pushing Kiku off him.  
>"Yao-kun is right," agreed Kiku quickly. "It was all an accident, a misunderstanding."<br>Ivan just stared at them even harder.  
>"An <em>accident<em>?" the Russian repeated. "We found you in the _middle of the night_, on the _floor_, with Kiku _on top of _Yao-Yao, both as looking as _guilty as hell_ for something that was an _ACCIDENT_?" His voice was slowly getting louder, but he shouted the last word with such venom that everyone in the room jumped, even Heracles.

Yao scrambled up and ran over to his bedside. "Please, Ivan, you have to believe me –"  
>"I will not!" spat Ivan, standing up to tower his full height over the shorter boy. His scary aura was beginning to glow. "You have truly broken my trust, Yao. And –" his breath hitched, " – and I think my heart as well." And will that, he threw himself back into bed, pulling the covers over his head. A faint "<em>kolkolkolkolkolkol<em>" could be heard from underneath. China looked like he was about to say something more, but evidently thought better of it and instead shuffled back to his own bed sadly, lying face down on the pillow.

Kiku turned to Heracles.  
>"That was not what it looked like, Heracles-kun!" he insisted, grabbing the Greek boy's tanned hand in his pale ones. "I was going to the bathroom and I tripped…"<br>To his own ears, it sounded like a weak excuse, especially with Ivan's misinterpretation still hanging in the air. Heracles looked at him, expression as calm as ever, but his eyes seemed cold.  
>"Congratulations," he mumbled. He pulled his hand from Kiku's grip, and turned away. The Greek didn't have to say anything to make the rejection any clearer. The Japanese boy looked imploringly over to Aisu, as if to say <em>Help me out here!<em> but the Icelandic boy was just watching blandly. Resigning himself to silence, Kiku slid back under his covers, and closed his eyes as the light went off once more.

After waiting until everyone had fallen asleep again, Freyr turned his phone on under the covers and opened Facebook:

**Freyr Johansen** Just caught China and Japan in a compromising position.

He seriously didn't expect anyone to comment until the morning, it being the middle of the night and all, but suddenly a little notification popped up.

**Evan Kirkland **Isn't China with Russia?

**Freyr Johansen **Why are you awake, Evan?

**Evan Kirkland **Why are YOU awake, Freyr?

**Freyr Johansen **I just happened to be woken up by drama. What's your excuse?

**Evan Kirkland **I had tht6bu w56ltuu tufyidddddddddi

**Freyr Johansen **WTF? Did you just drop your phone or something?

**Evan Kirkland **THIS IS SWITZERLAND! YOU WOKE ME UP WITH YOUR STUPID CONVERSATION IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! TALK IN THE MORNING!

**Evan Kirkland **Wait, China and Japan?

* * *

><p><em>7:15 a.m.<em>  
>The next morning, Japan was the first in his room to wake. He dressed silently and slipped down the stairs, not wanting to have to deal with Ivan's anger… or Heracles' coldness. Kiku decided to sit in the games room and watch the morning news before they ate breakfast and headed to the Greenwood centre. He sat on the sofa and switched on the TV.<br>"Kiku?" The Japanese boy whipped around to see Evan sitting in the corner, drawing in a notebook.  
>"Oh, Evan-san, I didn't see you there!" he spluttered.<br>The Welsh boy just smiled. "Not many do."

Shutting his notebook, he came and sat next to Kiku.  
>"So, you and China are together now?"<br>"How did you find out?" Kiku gaped. It had happened not five hours ago, and in the middle of the night!  
>"Facebook," Evan brushed off. "So, you two are in love then?" he asked interestedly.<br>"What?"  
>"Are you two making long-term plans?" Evan pressed. Kiku was a bit shocked at how direct Evan was [2]. Arthur was quite reserved, but his cousin seemed the opposite! "How exactly is China related to you?"<br>"He's like my big brother!" blurted Kiku. Evan eyed him.  
>"That's… strange," he remarked. "I thought that Natalie girl was the only weird one... oh, I think I can hear someone coming down the stairs."<br>"Oh no," moaned Japan, burying his head in his arms. "Everyone will know about… last night…"  
>"I'll give my head for breaking they do [3]," agreed Evan, before standing up. "Anyway, I have to go and serve breakfast. <em>Hwyl fawr<em>![4]"

Breakfast that morning was a highly uncomfortable affair. Everywhere Kiku looked, people were staring at him and whispering.  
>"Kiku and Yao!"<br>"I never thought they would do something like that!"  
>"It, like, totally goes to show how you can, like, think you know a person but then you totally don't." (You can guess which much-loved valley boy said that).<br>Kiku just sat and nibbled at his toast half-heartedly. The dining room was arranged in two long tables – Kiku sat at the very edge of one of them, as far away from everyone else as possible. Yao was sitting across from him, likewise distracted in picking at his breakfast.

"Kiku!"  
>"Good morning, Elizabeta-kun," mumbled Kiku. The Hungarian girl threw herself onto the bench beside him theatrically. Lakshmi came and sat next to her.<br>"So what's this I hear about you and Yao?" asked Elizabeta.  
>"It's all a misunderstanding!" hissed Yao furiously. "I don't know how all these people found out but it was nothing, understand?"<br>Elizabeta frowned. "You mean you aren't together?"  
>"No!" Yao and Kiku said in unison, both bright red with embarrassment.<br>"So then what's all this high-high [5] about?" asked Lakshmi.  
>"Iceland posted it on Facebook in the middle of the fucking night," scowled Lovino, who was sitting a few seats away irritably buttering another slice of toast.<br>"The guns bastard woke me up by making some huge fucking noise in his room, which is next door to mine."  
>"So… Aisu started this?" Japan asked.<br>"We have to get you and Heracles back together!" declared Elizabeta loudly. Lakshmi nodded happily.  
>"Me and Heracles were never together," protested Kiku quietly. Maybe this was a stroke of luck? Elizabeta and Lakshmi were the matchmakers among the nations, and they were generally successful. Then again, was he wiling to stake everything on them? But it was too late, Elizabeta had already galloped off in search of the other girls with Lakshmi in tow. There was a short silence.<br>"You're lucky you have someone looking out for your relationship interests," remarked Yao.

* * *

><p><strong>Kiku Honda<strong>'s Wall

**Alfred F. Jones **DUDE, u got off with CHINA? Isn't he ur cousin? That's a bit messed up.

**Francis Bonnefoy **Ah, Kiku is becoming worldly~ ;D

**Arthur Kirkland **Don't give him the wrong idea, frog! And Kiku, is this business about you and Yao true?

**Feliciano Vargas **Is Kiku in love with Yao now? I thought you were in love with Heracles!

**Ludwig Beilschmit **I was under the same impression as Feliciano – and I thought you were also dating Heracles? I don't approve of you being with someone while dating someone else.

**Gilbert Beilschmit **West, lighten up! You sound like you've just aged about five hundred years!

**Matthew Williams **Kiku, please fill us all in. I didn't think you would do something like this, but Ivan is really upset… is this just the rumour mill going a bit wild?

**Lars van Djik **Kiku. Talk to me? [6]

**Feliks Łukasiewicz **Like, OMG Kiku! I totally want all the details!

**Toris Laurinatis **Feliks, it's a bit rude to say it like that. For all we know, this isn't even true…

**Vash Zwingli **It sure as hell better be true, or I got woken up in the middle of the night for nothing!

**Elizabeta Hedervary **OKAY, OKAY! CALM DOWN HERE, PEOPLE! We've established that this is just a crazy rumour, can you leave it alone?

**Feliks Łukasiewicz **Then why's he hiding, like all embarrassed and stuff?

**Elizabeta Hedervary **How could he not, with you guys swamping him and muttering about him? Anyway, I need Bella Janssens [7], Lili Zwingli, Aoife Kirkland, Lakshmi Patel, Katyusha Braginskaya, Natalya Arlovskaya and Shelly Seychelles to come to my room A.S.A.P!

**Arthur Kirkland **You'll have to do it in the evening, Evan Kirkland said we're going to the Greenwood Centre today.

**Evan Kirkland **Change of plan, I think there's going to be a thunderstorm. We're staying in the hostel today, although you can go into the town if you want. Greenwood Centre is rescheduled for tomorrow.

**Elizabeta Hedervary **Great! Come on girls, we have a plan to make!

**Alfred F. Jones **Plan? The hero is the best at making plans! Can I help?

**Elizabeta Hedervary **Of course! The more the merrier!

**Arthur Kirkland **Oh lord. I hope you know what you've signed up for, Elizabeta.

* * *

><p>"So is everyone clear?" Elizabeta asked finally. She was standing on her bed, beside a large piece of paper than she'd pinned to the wall. It had little sketches of faces and arrows on it. The rest of the girls, plus Alfred and minus Natalya, who had wanted nothing to do with it, were sitting on the other beds. They all nodded.<p>

"Katyusha and Shelly, what are you doing tomorrow?" Elizabeta asked, testing them.  
>"I tell Yao that Ivan wants to talk to him," replied Shelly.<br>"And I tell Little Brother than _Yao_ wants to talk to_ him_," said Katyusha, smiling weakly.  
>"Then when they're together, we break the news that it was all a big rumour!" grinned Shelly.<br>"I just want Little Brother to be happy!" said Katyusha, her eyes welling with tears.  
>"Okay, okay," said Elizabeta anxiously, hoping to avoid tears with the Ukrainian, "Aoife and Alfred, what are you doing?"<p>

"I have to tell everyone that the rumour is fake, so I do [8]," said Aoife, playing with her clover-shaped hair clasp.  
>"Then me and her will approach Kiku and encourage him to patch things up with Hercules!" cried Alfred, flashing a 'heroic' smile (unaware that he had said Heracles' name wrong).<br>"Very good." Elizabeta nodded approvingly. "And, Bella and Lili?"

"We will go to Heracles," said Lili quietly. "And convince him that what happened was a misunderstanding."  
>"Then we'll go to Aoife and Alfred and plan when to get them alone together," grinned Bella.<br>"Me and Elizabeta will make sure everything goes smoothly," said Lakshmi, who was re-plaiting her long hair.  
>"Brilliant!" Elizabeta took down her piece of paper, folded it up and shoved it in the drawer on her bedside table. "So, the plan commences tonight! Part 1 – Ivan and Yao – starts now, and we should aim to have it completed by tonight. Part 2 – Kiku and Heracles – starts this evening, when the disco starts, and should be completed sometime tomorrow. Understood?"<p>

"Understood!" everyone chorused as they filed out of the room. Only Elizabeta and Lakshmi were left.  
>"First Operation Get-Vash-A-Girl, now this?" Lakshmi raised an eyebrow. "You are working very hard."<br>"It makes me happy," replied Elizabeta, lying on her back on her bed.  
>"Happiness is very important," agreed Lakshmi. "Do you want some Thums Up?"<br>"Don't mind if I do!"

* * *

><p><em>6:00 p.m. The disco has been on for one hour<em>  
>"Target is in sight," Shelly stage-whispered, pretending to be a secret agent as her and Katyusha watched Yao discreetly from edge of the hall.<br>"What?"  
>"Never mind."<br>Then Ivan came stumbling into view, an almost-empty vodka bottle in one hand (how many had preceded this bottle, they would never know).  
>"Little Brother is very upset," whimpered Katyusha, her eyes filling welling up again and her large chest heaving with unshed tears.<br>"Okay, I'm going for Yao." Shelly slipped off.

"сестра!" grinned Ivan, throwing an arm around Katyusha's shoulders.  
>"Hello брат," smiled Katyusha shakily. Ivan smelled like vodka.<br>"I made everyone try my vodka," he giggled in a slightly deranged way, waving the empty bottle in the air. "Matvey and Toris and Raivis…" Suddenly the giggles turned to sobs.  
>"Brother, what is wrong?" the Ukrainian girl cried, hugging the Russian boy tightly.<br>"Yao-Yao is so cruel," he sobbed into her short hair. _I have to do what Hungary said,_ thought Katyusha.  
>"Yao said he wanted to talk to you," she lied, hoping she could convince him. "You see, it was just a silly misunderstanding, they tripped on the way to the bathroom! He wants to explain it in person, and hopes you will make up!" Ivan looked at her with bloodshot, red-rimmed eyes.<br>"Really?"  
>"Of course," Katyusha replied eagerly, thanking God that Ivan was heavily intoxicated and was only listening to her because of that.<br>"I will talk to him," murmured Ivan, clutching at his older sister. "And we will make up."  
>"Yes, brother," smiled Katyusha.<p>

* * *

><p>Canada was feeling bad. Ever since Ivan had rammed that bottle into his mouth and ordered him to drink some seriously strong vodka, he'd been feeling woozy. All he could see was a blur of colours and movement.<br>"Woah, Birdie, are you okay?" It was Gilbert's voice, but Matthew couldn't see him properly.

Suddenly a burst of heat coursed through him. He was in the middle of a large crowd, wearing a thick hoodie, and he was swelteringly hot. And all he could think was _I need to get this hoodie off._ So he pulled it off.  
>"Matthew?" Gilbert had called him Matthew? He never called him Matthew.<br>"Something wrong?" he asked, squinting, trying to see his boyfriend. Ah, there Gilbert was, right in front of him. There was a weird look on his face.  
>"Damn right something's wrong," growled Gilbert, grabbing Matthew's wrist. "We're going outside."<br>He hadn't felt any hand other than his own on his wrists for so long… His wrists?

He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt. And now everyone could see his arms.

Suddenly, him and Gilbert were on the road outside the hostel. The air was uncomfortably warm. Suddenly, a clap of thunder bellowed through the air, and it began to pour.  
>"What the hell is <em>this<em>, Matthew?" demanded Gilbert, twisting the Canadian's wrist sharply upwards so that the neat rows of scars were visible.  
>"Scars…" whispered Matthew, suddenly sober from the downpour of rain and the sharp feeling of Gilbert's fingers digging into his arm.<br>"But why are there scars on your wrists?" First Gilbert looked angry, then suddenly distraught. "Why would you do it, Birdie?"  
>Matthew fumbled for an answer. "I – I – Sometimes I just needed to!"<br>"You needed to?"  
>"Yeah!" Matthew was angry now. "Do you know what it feels like to be forgotten all the time? Sometimes I just needed to vent, and there was no other way to do it!" "But… like this?" Gilbert whispered, gazing into Matthew's violet eyes. "You've got loads of friends, Birdie! How could you think you would have to go through this by yourself? You've got Ivan, Alfred, Lars, <em>Toris<em> even... and me!"  
>Matthew's reply was a bark of mirthless laughter. "Alfred forgets me! Lars is too busy dealing with his own problems! Ivan escaped by going insane years ago, and Toris has more scars than I do!" He stopped laughing. "And I couldn't force you to take care of me, it would be selfish. You have your own life."<p>

"Why didn't I see it?" the Prussian said, more to himself than Matthew, "why didn't I realise?"  
>"Don't blame yourself!" begged Matthew guiltily. "I hid it from you! It's all my fault!" And then they were both crying, clutching each other as the rain poured down.<p>

The rain stopped a few minutes later, and Gilbert wiped his eyes.  
>"That was so unawesome," he chuckled. Matthew nodded shyly. Gilbert drew him in for a kiss. "Next time you feel like doing… that… just come and punch me, <em>ja<em>?"  
>"What?"<br>"Don't hurt yourself," Gilbert said, serious once more. Matthew nodded again. "Anyway," said the albino, taking Matthew's hand, "I hear that there is an awesome ice cream parlour where awesome people go if they want ice cream. Wanna check it out?"  
>"Yes please!"<p>

* * *

><p>"Ivan? Are you drunk?"<br>"Yao-Yao…" the tall boy mumbled, reaching out to stroke the Chinese boy's hair.  
>"You both know that the whole thing with Kiku was just a huge misunderstanding, so why not get back together?" suggested Shelly, a twinkle in her eye.<p>

"Did you plan this?" asked Yao, rounding on the girls.  
>"No!" lied Shelly defensively. "So, we're going to leave you alone now!"<br>Katyusha and Shelly hurried off.

"Sister says you don't love Kiku," whispered Ivan into Yao's neck, swaying drunkenly.  
>"I would never love Kiku as I love you, Ivan," Yao said determinedly, wrapping his arms around the Russian's waist.<br>"Do you mean it?"  
>"Of course I mean it!"<br>"Then we should get back together."  
>"Of course!" Yao laughed, before stopping short. "You need to remember this when you sober up, okay?"<br>Ivan pulled a pen out of the pocket of his coat and scrawled on his arm in messy Russian: _I got back together with Yao :)_

From across the room, Elizabeta and Lakshmi high-fived each other.  
>"Part One of our plan, accomplished!"<br>"You girls and your crazy plans." Vash rolled his eyes. "I hope Lili isn't involved in this," he added threateningly.  
>"She's safe, don't worry," replied Lakshmi nonchalantly – purposely not answering the actual question.<p>

* * *

><p>And where was Kiku while all of this was happening? Upstairs, in his bed, hiding under the covers and playing Tetris on his phone.<br>"The hero knows you're up here!"  
>"Gah! Alfred-kun, please don't sneak up on me!" Kiku shut his phone and looked at the American in the doorway.<br>"Just wanted to come and tell you that Yao and Ivan got back together," said Alfred casually, as if he'd only just found out.  
>"That is very good," Kiku replied, surprised. He'd thought that Ivan was still angry! Evidently not…<p>

"So, why are you playing Tetris up here?"  
>"Because I didn't feel like going down there," mumbled Kiku.<br>"Tetris is such a heroic game," said Alfred. "The tune is so catchy! Do, do-do-do, do-do-do…" he hummed.  
>Kiku smiled. "You do know that the Tetris theme is actually a Russian folk song called 'Korobeiniki'?"<br>"What?" Alfred was aghast. "I'll never be able to play Tetris without thinking of the commie again!" he moaned, slumping down onto Kiku's bed. "How unheroic!"

* * *

><p><strong>Canada~~ :( Now we know what Matthew had to hide. On the bright side, that is one sub-plot that is now finished! Which means more GiriPan and less angst-mystery!<strong>

**I wrote probably two-thirds of this in one sitting, just forcing it out. I've written a bit of chapter 9 though, so hopefully the next wait won't be too long! Reviews are always appreciated!**

**[1] 'Aisu' means 'Ice' in Japanese. I say it mainly because the story is about Japan, but also because Aisu looks cuter than Ice :3  
>[2] Apparently the stereotype is that Welsh people are more direct than English people. So Evan is direct :)[3] 'I'll give my head for breaking' means 'I'm certain'. It is apparently a Welsh phrase. I'm not Welsh, so I don't know.<br>[4] '**_**Hwyl fawr' **_**means 'goodbye'  
>[5] 'High-high' is an Indian phrase for 'fuss'. You can also say 'she's getting all high-high' which means 'worked up' :) I'm certain of this one.<br>[6] Lars van Djik is my human name for Netherlands.  
>[7] Bella Janssens is my human name for Belgium.<strong>

**20/11/11: I've edited - smoothed up the PruCan scene and replaced Ice's old name with his new one.**


	9. My First Kiss, For Some

**26/11/11: Editing done. Also, I wouldn't bother translating anything if I were you, because I never put anything in another language that is essential to the story, basically because I find it really annoying when half the story is in Hungarian and how the hell am I supposed to understand that? So if you can't be bothered to translate, don't bother, because there's no need :) Although if you want to, Belarus' speech is in Belarusian, not Russian, so make you you translate from Belarusian otherwise it's weird.**

**So I was planning to upload this later, but I wanted to give you guys something to read while I go to Scotland, so here it is!**

Chapter 9: My First Kiss, Fore Some

Thursday

"_My first kiss went a little like this!_" Alfred sang – or rather, bellowed. He made a kissing sound. "_And twist!_" He made the sound again. "_And twist!_" By then, most of the rest of the coach had caught on and had joined in.  
>"<em>Well, my first kiss went a little like this!<em>" thirty voices chanted. Heracles, Kiku, Roderich, Vash and Lili were not singing. Kiku was, as always, sitting next to Heracles, and Heracles was, as always, fast asleep with his head against the window. But there was a tense air between them, and Kiku couldn't bring himself to look at Heracles.  
>"This song is so vulgar," sniffed the Austrian.<br>"I don't think I've heard this song before, _bruder_," said Lili curiously, looking at Vash.  
>The Swiss boy scowled. "I wanted to protect Lili from this dirty song and now America…" he growled angrily.<br>"_Lips like liquorice, tongue like candy! Excuse me, miss, but can I get you out your –_" At this point Vash actually clapped his hands over his little sister's ears, and remained like this until the song was over. Once the singing had died down, Alfred stood up.

"Okay, I have a really cool heroic dare to dare all of you!" he announced.  
>"Sit down, divhead, the coach is still moving!" hissed Arthur. The American ignored him.<br>"I dare everyone, by the time we're back on the coach at the end of the day, to have kissed someone!" This was met with shouts of both approval and disapproval – amongst other things.

Aoife turned to Cian. "Pucker up."  
>"<em>Excuse<em> me?" Cian looked shocked.  
>"We're twins, so we are. And if you can't kiss your twin, who can you kiss?" Aoife shrugged.<br>Cian grimaced. "I suppose you're right…"  
>"Nuh-uh!" America shouted. "Family members don't count!"<br>"Stupid Alfred," the twins muttered, although they were both also relieved that they didn't have to kiss.  
>"And what if we don't want to kiss anyone, bastard?" growled Lovino, trying to prise a cooing Antonio off him.<br>"Then there will be a forfeit," Alfred replied in an ominous voice. The nations went quiet as they all imagined what awful forfeits Alfred could think up. Everyone knew that he was very imaginative when it came to completely embarrassing the hell out of you.

"So yeah, that's the dare!" continued Alfred. "And it starts as soon as we get to this centre place… what is this centre place, anyway?"

* * *

><p><em>At the Greenwood centre, 9 a.m.<em>  
>"So, we're meeting back here at three o'clock to go home, please stay in groups of three or more, don't do anything dangerous, remember to eat your lunch…" Evan rattled off dutifully, "…and remember America's dare," he added, "or there will most likely be an embarrassing forfeit!"<br>The nations split up into groups and went their separate ways.

Kiku looked around nervously. Who would he be in a group with? He could easily go with China, Russia and Ukraine, or America, Canada and Prussia, but he couldn't just abandon Heracles and he didn't want to them be a burden on anyone else.  
>"Kiku, Heracles, want to come with me?"<br>"Arthur-kun?"  
>"Of course, only if you haven't got someone else to be with," smiled the English boy. Kiku considered it – he did like England a lot, and he was offering for both of them to come…<br>"Thank you, Arthur-kun," the Japanese boy replied, bowing slightly, before gently laying a hand on Heracles' arm. The Greek boy looked almost asleep on his feet.  
>"Heracles, we're going with Arthur-kun." Heracles mumbled something and followed after his shorter friend.<p>

"Kiku, I need your help," Arthur admitted in a low voice as they walked. "About Alfred's dare."  
>"I'm happy to assist."<br>"Well, I don't know who to kiss."  
>"Well, do you have anyone… <em>ahem<em>, special?" Kiku reddened slightly, even though he wasn't even talking about himself.  
>"That's the problem!" sighed the blond boy. "Family doesn't count, and maybe once I would have considered Lakshmi, but we aren't on those type of terms anymore, more like friends… besides, I'm sure she's going for Switzerland…"<br>"Really?" This was news to Kiku.  
>"Francis would use it as an excuse to grope me, either of the Italies would end in tears or a smack, I'd have to be drunk to think of Ludwig, and I won't even consider Alfred…"<br>"What about Matthew-san?" suggested Kiku. "He isn't technically your family, and I am sure he would be happy to oblige."

Arthur stopped, his eyes round with surprise. "That is a good idea, Kiku! I never would have thought of him!" He grinned. "That's put my mind at rest."  
>"I am always glad to help." Kiku did a little bow.<br>"You don't need to act so formal with me!" laughed Arthur. "You'll kiss Heracles, right?" Kiku looked down.  
>"I – I don't think so, Arthur-kun."<p>

The English boy tipped his head to the side curiously. "Why not? I thought you two were like _this_." He crossed his middle finger over his index one, (like you do when you're hoping for something). "Wait, this isn't about that silly rumour, is it? Because Aoife's telling everyone,"'it's just a rumour, so it is'", in a perfect imitation of the Irish girl.  
>"Well, that is true…"<br>"So what's the problem?"  
>"Heracles still believes it," said Kiku forlornly.<br>"Why, has he said so?"  
>"Well, no." "Then how do you know?" Arthur crossed his arms. "That boy spends half his time asleep as it is. He probably doesn't even know about the rumour!"<br>"He knows," was all Kiku said, remembering the coldness of those green eyes.  
>"Well then convince him that it isn't true!"<p>

Kiku shifted uneasily, wondering if he could summon up the courage that he had had two nights ago. He had been under the influence of Welsh ice cream though…  
>"I think I could… convince him," said Kiku slowly, "but, I would need… some ice cream."<br>"Ice cream?" Arthur frowned, then realised what Kiku meant. "Oh, Evan's magical ice cream! There's a shop here, I'm sure they sell it. You should do it now."  
>"Um, no," replied Kiku quickly, "it will spoil my appetite for lunch. After lunch, I will do it." He knew he was procrastinating, but he didn't want to deal with this right now.<br>"Alright." Arthur spotted a sign. "Do you want to try the archery?" he grinned.  
>"Archery?" Kiku sweatdropped.<p>

* * *

><p><em>10 a.m.<em>  
>"Hey, Norge, let's go on those!" grinned Mathias, arm around his shorter boyfriend, pointing to five long blue slides, the type that you have to sit on a mat to slide down.<br>"How old are you, Mathias?" sighed Christian, shaking his head. Seriously, the Dane was so immature.  
>"They look fun!" said Tino eagerly. "You'll come with me and Mathias, won't you Sve?"<br>"'course," said Berwald.  
>"See, Norge, you're outnumbered."<br>"Ice hasn't voted yet." Norway turned to Iceland. "Do you want to go on the baby slides, _brother dear?_"  
>Aisu shifted uncomfortably. "I'm, uh, neutral. Don't care either way."<br>"You _are_ outnumbered!" Mathias laughed obnoxiously. "Come on, let's go!" He grabbed Christian's hand and pulled him up the steps.

Once they were at the top, Berwald insisted that Tino sit in front of him on his mat. "If y' fall, I can pr'tect y'."  
>"Uh, okay," squeaked Tino nervously, now scared that he <em>was<em> going to fall.  
>"Norge, you can sit in front of me," said Mathias.<br>"But that would leave Ice all alone." Christian shook his head again. "No, I think it's best that I sit with my _brother dear_."  
>Iceland shuddered.<br>"I know, why don't we all three sit on one mat?" Mathias suggested, smiling winningly. Everyone except Finland raised their eyebrows at him. "Please? Ple-e-e-e-ase?" whined Mathias. "It's the right choice!"  
>"Okay, okay, fine!" scowled Christian. "But do <em>not<em> start saying that again!"

The attendant looked at them oddly when they said that they only needed two mats for five people, but he had been notified that they were nations and so didn't give them any trouble.  
>"Ready! Get set! GO!" hollered Mathias. The two mats pushed off.<br>"Aaah!" cried Tino as they flew over the first bump. Both mats were going very fast, with Finland and Sweden just behind the other three. With a _whoosh!_ Mathias, Christian and Freyr landed. Their momentum made them crash into the ground and flip over – the Dane on the bottom, his boyfriend on top of him, and Aisu collapsed on top. They were lying right in front of Berwald and Tino's lane, so when the last two Nordics landed, Tino crashed into Mathias, toppling the mini pyramid, and Berwald landed on top of him. It was basically a huge Nordic heap.

"Berwald…?" came a soft groan. "Is that you… on top of me?"  
>"'m s'rry T'no," grunted Berwald, probably coming the closest he'd ever been to flustered.<br>"No, no, it's okay." Tino reached both hands around his boyfriend's neck and kissed him sweetly. "Now we're both off the hook from Alfred," he whispered.

As if jealous, Mathias wrapped his arms around his own boyfriend and kissed him as well, before Christian shoved him off.  
>"I'm only trying to protect you from doing a nasty forfeit!" he complained. But they had kissed – meaning they were both safe. Only now did realisation dawn on Freyr.<br>"Who am I going to kiss?" he wondered out loud. "Family members don't count… and no offence, but the rest of you are all like brothers to me," he said sheepishly, not wanting to kiss Tino or even get within lip touching distance to Berwald or Mathias.  
>His older brother sat up. "Do you… like anyone?" he asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively.<br>Aisu blushed. "No!"  
>"What about Raivis?" chuckled Mathias.<br>Freyr shook his head, thinking of the mountain climb. Lili… of course! If he had half a chance – a tenth of a chance! A fiftieth of a chance! – he would kiss her, but it was impossible.  
>"You're looking dreamy," teased the Dane. "It is Raivis, isn't it?"<br>"I think Estonia likes him," said Tino worriedly. "I don't want anyone to be unhappy!"  
>"It's not Raivis!" shouted Freyr, earning a few stares from the other people in the centre. "It's… it's Lili, okay?" he hissed.<br>"Lili? She's cute enough, I suppose," acknowledged Mathias, standing up and then reaching down to pick up the Icelandic boy and swing him over his shoulder. "Norge, lead the way! We're off to find her!"  
>"What?" gasped Aisu. "No! No, no, no!" But it was too late, and he was being carried off to find one Lili Zwingli.<p>

* * *

><p><em>11 a.m.<em>  
>"Hey, what's going on here?"<br>There was a big gaggle of girls standing outside the souvenir shop, and some very loud sobs could be heard. Being the hero, Alfred needed to comfort the crying person! So he edged past Shelly (who waved at him) and Aoife (who rolled her eyes at him) and realised that it was Ukraine crying onto the shoulder of Hungary, who was patting her arm awkwardly.  
>"Katyusha? Are you okay?" Alfred asked concernedly.<br>"My sister…розла…can't find her…вона втекла…" Katyusha hiccupped.  
>"You can't find Belarus?" Katyusha nodded and a fresh wave of tears rolled down her cheeks. "The hero will find her!" vowed Alfred, wrapping an arm around Katyusha's shoulder in a half-hug before giving her a tiny peck on the lips. "Now you don't have to worry about the dare!" he grinned, charging off.<p>

Belarus was lost, Alfred thought, a needle of worry running through him. What if they didn't find her for hours, of if she was hurt or sick? Or what if she had run away, because she was upset? Why would she be upset? It must have been something huge to upset her! Alfred was sprinting so hard that he nearly missed the sound of muffled sniffs and growled words coming from around the back of the bathroom building. Nearly.  
>"Natalya?" he called cautiously.<br>"Дурны ... дурны адважваўся ... не буду ... брат ..." was all he heard.  
>"Natalya?" he called again, peering round the cold grey wall. There she was, leaning on the building with the face in her hands. "Natalya! Are you okay?"<p>

The American rushed forward. Her head snapped up and she drew her knife, brandishing it at him.  
>"No, I am not okay," she spat. "Leave me now."<br>"But your sister is really worried about you," argued Alfred. "She's really upset, _crying her eyes out_ because she can't find you!"

That was a low blow for Natalya. Her weakness was always her big sister. But she had felt herself tearing up and, being her proud self, needed to run off somewhere quickly to let it out. It must be her time of the month or something ridiculous like that, she thought irritably. She had been thinking of that silly dare that the American idiot had announced, and that family members didn't count (therefore blowing her chances with her brother) when she had decided to muse about who she could kiss. Mostly everyone was afraid of her, apart from Toris. And there was no way in any alternate universe that Natalya would kiss that sap – she'd leave him to his cross-dresser. And then a very familiar face floated across her mind: the American idiot himself, Alfred F. Jones. Accompanying this oh-so-delightful dish was a side of complete confusion and a sprinkling of a fuzzy feeling that she didn't recognise. It had scared her, not being able to control her feelings, so she'd run away. And now who had found her? _The American idiot._

"Why are you crying, anyway?" he asked. She shot him a glare, but it wasn't quite as scary as intended because of the tears that shimmered in her dark blue eyes, making them even more beautiful. Beautiful… since when had Alfred started referring to the Belarusian girl as _beautiful_? But now that he stared down at her, cheeks flushed pink and platinum hair running down her back like a gorgeous waterfall, he realised that he was completely in love with her. Completely.

And that was why he braced his arms on the wall above her head, leant into her, and kissed her firmly on the lips. They remained like that for nearly five seconds, Natalya frozen in surprise. When he broke off, Alfred spun around and fled. Belarus touched her tingling lips curiously. Why did she feel this way?

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued~<strong>

**Yay for Belamerica! I'm about halfway through the next chapter, so hopefully it won't be too long a wait. And when I get back I'll be able to write James' speech so much better because I'll have been around actual Scottish people :D**


	10. My First Kiss, For Others

**I am so terribly sorry about the hideously long wait you guys had to go through to get this chapter :( There's fluff in this one though, because I'm trying to make it up to you! If you've stuck with me this long, please enjoy! I'm sorry if Heracles is OOC in this chapter, I figured he would be while baring his soul to Liechtenstein and Switzerland ;)**

Chapter 10: My First Kiss, For Others

_12 noon_ "Why don't we go in the boats before lunch?" suggested Lakshmi to the rather large group behind her.

It had started as just her, Vash and Lili. Then Elizabeta had joined them, along with Roderich, Gilbert, Matthew and Francis. Heracles, Kiku, and Arthur had arrived, then the Ireland twins and Evan (who insisted that they had 'lost' James) had decided to tag along, and eventually the Baltic trio plus Feliks as well.

At this suggestion, there were general murmurs of assent, so Lakshmi worked out the route to the river on their map, and they set off.  
>"I told everyone the rumour was fake, so I did," Aoife whispered to Elizabeta, "but then Alfred ran off somewhere and I can't find him!"<br>"What? Where did he go?"  
>"To find Katyusha's little sister."<br>"_Natalya?_" First Elizabeta was surprised, then she grinned. "You don't think he… _likes _her?"  
>Aoife shuddered. "That girl is scary. He's welcome to her if that keeps her away from me!"<p>

Lakshmi had been listening and decided to join in the conversation. "But what's happening to our plan now?"  
>"It's falling apart!" exclaimed Aoife. "Bella went off with her brother, Vash won't let Lili out of his sight, and Alfred's vanished! This centre is too big!" She shouted over to her brother. "Evan, why did you bring us to this place? It's too big!"<br>"What?" Evan was understandably confused.  
>"Everything's fine," soothed Elizabeta. "Someone text Alfred!" she shouted to the group. "Tell him that Elizabeta wants him to get his butt over to the river!"<p>

* * *

><p>From <strong>Matthew<strong> to **Alfred **Elizabeta wants u to come to the river

From **Arthur** to **Alfred** Come to the river, now.

From **Francis** to **Alfred** Come to the river, mon cher ;)

From **Toris** to **Alfred** Can you please come to the river as soon as you can?

From **Feliks** to **Alfred **Lyk get 2 the river now.

From **Alfred **to **all** OMG, stop spamming! Ill b there soon!

* * *

><p>He still wasn't there fifteen minutes later.<br>"That twit has no sense of time," remarked Arthur. "Let's just get on the boats without him."  
>"No!" Elizabeta shouted, alarmed at the thought of her plan being ruined. She needed Alfred too! "I mean, we can't just leave him," she hurriedly tried to right herself so as to not seem suspicious and reveal their plan.<br>"I can," replied Arthur. "Four to a boat, who wants to come with me?"  
>"We will," said Kiku, gesturing to himself and Heracles. Elizabeta shot a pointed look at Aoife, nodding to Cian and Evan.<br>"No, no, we'll go!" the Irish girl said, grabbing Evan and Cian's arms and dragging them towards the waiting boat. "Come on Artie!" she grinned, shoving her brother and cousins into a boat, jumping in and rowing off.

Once the first boat had gone, Elizabeta breathed a sigh of relief. Aoife was originally supposed to be approaching Kiku, but now Elizabeta realised that her Japanese friend was shy and it was probably better that only Alfred went to him. The two were closer, and would have a better opportunity to discuss things if Kiku didn't clam up because he didn't know Aoife.

"I'm here! The hero is here!" Alfred came into view, red-faced and breathing heavily. He stopped when he got to the group and hunched over, hands on his knees. A minute later, he came back up. "Okay, what'd I miss?"  
>"We're going in the boats," Elizabeta said, putting heavy emphasis on each word, as if she was talking to a very young or stupid person. "That sounds like a great <em>PLAN<em>, doesn't it?"  
>"Um… yeah?"<br>"In fact, I think you and Kiku should go in the same boat," the Hungarian girl continued in the same stilted tone. "You can have a nice _TALK_, can't you?"  
>"Oh yeah!" Realisation dawned on Alfred, and he grinned his megawatt smile. "Come on Kiku, let's go!" he cried, grabbing the shorter boy's arm, who in turn took his Greek friend's arm.<p>

Elizabeta made a frantic slicing motion with her hand, which Alfred thankfully noticed.  
>"But, dude," Alfred pouted, "I really wanna talk to you about something… <em>private<em>," he said. Kiku hesitated. He didn't want Heracles to be a burden on anyone else, but he understood the want for privacy. He was Japan, after all. After a moment of weighing up the decisions, he asked, "Does anybody want to travel in a boat with Heracles?"

"I'll go with him," offered Lili, nodding to Elizabeta to signify that she understood her part of the plan.  
>Vash went red. "Well, well then obviously I'm going too!" he sputtered. "I have to protect my sister," he glowered at the Greek, who just shrugged.<br>"Well, that's fine," beamed Elizabeta. "Off you go now!" Lili skipped into to the boat eagerly, holding Vash's hand and half-dragging him. Heracles got in last, Vash picked up the oar, and they rowed on their way.

Alfred and Kiku went alone in the next boat.  
>"So, what did you want to talk to me about, Alfred-kun?" asked Japan.<br>"Well." America took a breath. "I wanted to talk about you and Heracles."  
>"What?" Kiku blushed. "Why is everyone so interested in me and Heracles-kun?"<br>"Because, _dude_, you two are _made_ for each other!" Alfred rolled his eyes. "So I've come to ask you, what's stopping you from hooking up?"  
>"Heracles-kun doesn't want to speak to me!" Kiku bowed his head sadly.<br>"So, what, you talk to him and he doesn't answer?"  
>"Well, I have not really spoken to him…"<br>Alfred stopped. "So you think he's not talking to you, but in reality you're not talking to him?" The American threw his arms out. "Dude, what d'you think you're doing? He obviously thinks that you're blanking him!"  
>"E-excuse me?"<p>

"_You_ think that _he's_ not talking to _you_, but _he_ thinks that _you're_ not talking to _him_, get it?" Alfred explained. "So you just need to break the ice and tell him that you _are_ talking to him!"  
>"But he believes that the rumour about Yao and I is true. I am too ashamed," admitted the Japanese boy.<br>"Dude, _nobody_ believes that rumour," said Alfred kindly, putting a hand on Kiku's shoulder. "Yao and the commie are back together, for cryin' out loud."  
>"I suppose that is true…"<br>"So, go make up with Heracles!" laughed Alfred.

"Hey!" came a shout from behind them. "Clogging up the river is not awesome!"  
>The duo turned around to see Prussia, Canada and France in a boat behind them. Then they realised that they weren't moving. Because when Alfred had thrown his arms in the air, he had dropped his oar into the water, and it had sunk to the bottom.<p>

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the in boat ahead, Liechtenstein sat between Greece and Switzerland as the two boys rowed, Vash with a look of deep concentration on his face, and Heracles managing to look half-asleep even while rowing.<p>

"So…" Lili searched for a conversation topic that could lead to talking about Japan, and from there convincing Greece of his innocence. "I wonder what is going on between America and Belarus?"  
>"I hope they aren't going to become one of those disgusting couples, making out any time and anywhere," growled Vash.<br>"Well, maybe that's what Alfred wanted to talk to Kiku about in private," the blonde girl continued, shooting a look at Heracles. He had opened his eyes properly at the mention of Kiku.  
>"Hah, that loudmouth would know the meaning of <em>private<em> if it smacked him in the face," Vash scoffed. Lili frowned. Her brother wasn't usually this angry unless something was bothering him… Lili was torn between continuing her mission or asking her brother what was wrong…

"Maybe he just wanted to catch up with Japan," suggested Heracles.  
>"Catch up with what? We've been on this trip for four days! You can't <em>not<em> know everything about everyone!" snapped Vash. "And by the way, what's with you and Kiku anyway? You two had a fight, didn't you? I thought you two were the calmest people on Earth!"  
><em>Bingo<em>, thought Lili. She didn't have to think of a way to bring up Kiku - Vash had done it for her.

"We didn't have a fight," replied Heracles coolly. "Kiku has just decided not to talk to me."  
>"But why?" asked Lili, feigning innocence.<br>Heracles ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I saw him and Yao in the night, along with everyone else in our room. He told me that it was nothing, but I – I was angry. How could I not be? I… I thought that he liked me." He sighed. "But the next morning, once I had calmed down and was ready to sort it out, he had slipped downstairs early and was sitting with Yao. He avoided me all day, didn't even show up at the disco, and was already asleep when the rest of us came upstairs. And today, he's been with me all day, but won't even _look_ at me."

Lili bit her lip. This was too sad! Even Vash's angry expression had melted somewhat. Lili was happy that she was doing something to help. "And I know that Yao and Ivan are together again, and that the thing in the night must have really been an accident, but he still won't talk to me." Greece ground his teeth – this was probably the angriest he'd been for a while.

"Well," Lili began, slightly timidly, "Kiku does like you."  
>"What?" Heracles looked up.<br>"He thinks that you are angry with him," Lili nodded. "That you don't want to speak to him."  
>"So it's all a misunderstanding?"<br>"I think so."  
>"Thank you." Greece half-smiled and took one of her hands, squeezing it gently. Lili blushed nervously, and Vash jumped up.<br>"Get off my sister!" he shouted, rocking the boat dangerously. Greece drew his hand back, completely unperturbed, and Liechtenstein pulled on Switzerland's sleeve.  
>"Don't be angry, brother," she begged. "Be happy that Japan and Greece will make up! You and Japan are friends, right?"<br>"I suppose," he muttered, sitting back down and muttering something unintelligible.  
>"What did you say?"<br>"Nothing, Lili."

* * *

><p><em>1:30 pm<em>

"I bet you two and Germany would get on well," mused Arthur watching his twin cousins dig into their baked potatoes.  
>"At least we didn't bring a Marmite sandwich to eat," retorted Cian through a mouthful of potato and waving his fork at England.<br>"And potatoes are very healthy, so they are," added Aoife. Evan just smiled into his cheese sandwich.

"They sold pasta in the café, Ludwig!" beamed North Italy, tucking into his plate of spaghetti.  
>"That's wonderful," sighed the German.<br>"Kiss him, West!" grinned Prussia, shoving his brother towards the Italian.  
>"Why?"<br>"The dare," replied the albino, rolling his eyes. "Get him now before someone else does!"  
>"What do you mean, 'before someone else does'?"<br>"Well, he's quite cute," stated Gilbert matter-of-factly. "Although not as cute as Birdie, who was completely creeped on by Netherlands earlier!"  
>"I didn't <em>creep<em> on him," argued Lars, who was sitting further away, next to his sister, who was chatting to Spain and Romano.  
>"He creeped on him," insisted Gilbert.<p>

"How did you fit that into your backpack?" asked Elizabeta in awe as Lakshmi pulled a huge Tiffin (1), full of food, from the bag.  
>"I have my ways," the Indian girl replied. "Now, who wants some roti? Vash?"<br>"Yes please," replied the blond, who was promptly handed three of the circular breads and a steaming pot of dahl.  
>"So, have you all fulfilled your dare?" Hungary asked their little group – Austria, Switzerland, India and Liechtenstein. Roderich was the only one who nodded.<br>"Oh, I forgot!" Lakshmi sighed, then leaned over to kiss Vash on the lips.

The blond boy froze at the touch, heart thudding. What was she doing?

After a second Lakshmi leaned back, smiling.  
>"Fulfilled!" she sang, earning a high-five from Elizabeta.<br>"I haven't done it yet," said Lili. At that moment, Denmark and Norway came over, pulling a frantically squirming Iceland between them.  
>"Ice has something to say," said Norway in that serious voice of his. The group looked at the white-haired boy expectantly. When he said nothing, his older brother smacked him on the back of the head, and he leapt forward, pressing a quick kiss to Lili's lips. He drew back instantly and ran off, his fellow Nordics in two ("That was the right choice, Ice!").<p>

"You two are so cute!" squealed Hungary, hugging a now blushing Lili. Lakshmi launched into a spiel about weddings – one of her favourite topics of conversation – that had both girls hooked while the boys didn't listen.

Roderich chuckled.  
>"What?" snapped Vash, uncomfortably aware of his blush and still-racing pulse. Why he had them, though, he wasn't sure.<br>"Just admit it to yourself," Roderich advised him.  
>"Admit what?" "Still in denial, I see." Roderich smiled in a slightly condescending way. "Don't worry, you'll know soon enough."<p>

"Go on, dude, you'll be fine," urged America. Japan looked from his friend to the lone figure of Greece eating lunch by himself. "I'll be right here for you."  
>"Okay." Kiku walked slowly, thinking of all the things that could go wrong… by the time he reached his brown-haired friend his heat was racing.<br>"Kiku." The Greek sounded surprised.  
>"Heracles," Kiku acknowledged quietly. They stood in awkward silence.<p>

"I'm sorry for –" the began in unison, before stopping and staring at each other.  
>"I am sorry that I did not speak to you because I was ashamed and I thought that you were angry with me because of what happened with Yao and when I tried to tell you –" Kiku gabbled, before Heracles reached out and took the Japanese boy's pale hand in his tanned one, silencing him.<br>"It's my fault too," Heracles replied. "If I had tried to talk to you –"  
>"No, the blame is mine," insisted Kiku.<br>"It's mine too," Heracles repeated. They stopped, then both chuckled.

Suddenly Heracles stood up and kissed Kiku.

The Japanese boy was shocked for a moment, but the feel of the Greek's lips on his felt so right that he gave in and closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around Heracles' neck as he felt arms snake around his waist. Nothing else mattered now, just him and Heracles and the fact that _they were kissing_.

A few minutes – hours? – later, they broke off, both panting. Kiku was sure that his face was red, and Heracles looked ever so slightly smug. And that was when Kiku registered that there were people cheering.

* * *

><p><strong>Phew~ Was that good enough? I hope you liked it! I wrote three-quarters of this after sewing for an hour and then spending two hours playing on Sims 2 with some sims called Gilbert, Matthew, Elizabeta and Roderich. If it gets the writing going, maybe I should do it more often! Reviews do keep me going - I had a beautiful long review the other day that really inspired me to keep writing. Hopefully it's not too long until the end now! Thanks!<strong>


	11. Some More Discoveries

**Yay~ Chapter 11! Sorry for the wait. Gawd, there is so much England in this chapter. Warnings: OOCness and England acting weird. Enjoyy~**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Eleven: Some More Discoveries<span>  
><span>Thursday evening<span>

"So, time to own up!" announced America. Everyone was seated in the dining room, and Alfred was standing at the front of the room. "Now's the time, people! If you didn't kiss someone in the Greenwood centre, be prepared to forfeit! Let's start with…" He scanned the room, grinning. "Francis!"  
>"Let's see now," smiled France flirtatiously, "England, Prussia, Spain, Canada –"<br>"Yeah, great," interrupted Alfred, looking slightly disturbed. "Toris!"  
>"Poland."<br>"Eduard!"  
>"Um… Latvia." Raivis started shaking even harder as they both blushed.<br>"James!"  
>"Well, here's the thing," began Scotland, standing up. Everyone turned to look at him, and he turned slightly pink. "I was lost, you see."<br>"So you _were_ telling the truth," mumbled England to Northern Ireland, who nodded and frowned at him as if to say, _What? You think we'd lie to you?_

"And?" America raised an eyebrow.  
>"So I couldn't find anyone! And I couldn't go and kiss a stranger, could I?"<br>"Sorry, man, you forfeit!" laughed Alfred. A chorus of _ooh _sounded. James stuck his chin out.  
>"Fine, I accept," he said grudgingly.<br>"Come and stand out here at the front," ordered Alfred. James did so. "Now wait 'til I find out who else has to forfeit, then I'll work out your punishment."  
>James crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, looking defiant.<p>

"Now, where was I? Oh yeah! Lich… I mean, Leech… um, Lichen… urgh, Lili! Who did you kiss?"  
>"Iceland," she said quietly.<br>"Aw, that's adorable!" cooed Alfred, along with many other people who nodded and made 'cute' noises of their own, causing Iceland and Liechtenstein to blush fiery reds. "Vash!"  
>"India," Switzerland practically growled, going as red as his sister, raising a chorus of what sounded like 'I knew it' and 'I thought so' from the other nations. Roderich snickered behind his hands.<br>"There's no point asking Kiku or Heracles, because we all know what happened with them," joked Alfred. Kiku blushed, but was happier than he had been for a long time, curled up against Heracles' shoulder, so he didn't care. The rest of the nations were called out, and surprisingly, all of them hand managed to find someone to kiss – except one.

"Bella!"  
>Belgium stood up. "I didn't find anyone I wanted to kiss," she announced.<br>"Well then you forfeit!" replied Alfred. "Come stand at the front!"  
>Bella strode confidently to the front of the room and stood next to James.<br>"Glad to know I'm not the only one," she smiled.  
>"Now, how to punish you…" Alfred put a finger on his chin and mimed thinking.<p>

"Scotland, Belgium, your forfeit is…" Alfred's eyes lit up. "You have to kiss each other!"

"What?" chorused the whole room, before being drowned in a sea of whispers. Bella turned to James. The redhead was staring at his shoes, rubbing the back of his neck and blushing. It was the first time she'd seen him less than overly outgoing and confident. She swallowed.  
>"So, do you want to get this over with?" she said lightly. James nodded, then stepped closer. He was quite a bit taller than she was. Then he leaned down and brought their lips together.<p>

A few seconds later they broke off. Belgium smiled, a heartfelt soaring grin that Scotland couldn't help but mirror. All his natural confidence flowed back – he realised then that he had been waiting for that feeling, the feel of the Belgian girl's lips on his own.  
>"Well, goodnight everyone!" he shouted to the group of gobsmacked nations. "Don't wait around for us!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room, ignoring the whistles and catcalls that followed them.<br>"Where are we going?" asked Bella excitedly as they ran out onto the street.  
>"Ice cream," replied James, practically buzzing. "We'll be a while."<p>

* * *

><p><strong>James Kirkland<strong> is now in a relationship with **Bella Janssens**  
><strong>Bella Janssens<strong> likes this

**Bella Janssens** (heart)

**James Kirkland ** (heart)(heart)(heart)

**Bella Janssens** (heart)(heart)(heart)(heart)(heart)

**James Kirkland ** (heart)(heart)(heart)(heart)(heart)(heart)(heart)(heart)(heart)(heart)

**Peter Kirkland** You two are well sad.

* * *

><p><em>8:00 pm<em>  
>It was the first movie night, so most people were pulling chairs into the games room, where someone was setting up the TV. Of course, not everyone was about the watch the film. A couple of nations had decided not to watch, and had retired early – such as Latvia, who was too scared to watch. India and China were cooking amiably in the kitchen. And Switzerland was trying to convince Liechtenstein to go upstairs and read, instead of watching.<br>"_Bruder_, I am well over twelve years old," Lili sighed.  
>"But I still think it might scare you!" insisted Vash. "Please, Lili, please don't watch the movie!"<br>"But what's so wrong with it? It's just about a lady who loses her daughter on a plane…"  
>"You might have nightmares!"<br>"He's right."  
>The siblings spun round to see England leaning in the doorway.<br>"Maybe it's best you go upstairs," advised Arthur, a slight smile playing at his lips. "It's a very chilling film."  
>"Well, alright," Lili blushed, bowed her head slightly, and turned away, hurrying down the corridor.<p>

In a second Switzerland had pushed England against the wall. He might have been shorter, but he was still threatening.  
>"What are you doing?" the Swiss boy hissed.<br>"Looking out for her," the English boy hissed back.  
>"Liar! Tell me what you're really up to." Vash pulled out the small handgun he always kept on him and pressed it against Arthur's neck.<br>"I was looking out for her," Arthur repeated, reddening in the face slightly and breathing heavily. Vash realised that he was probably choking the island nation and lessened the pressure he was exerting on his neck – only slightly though.  
>"And why would you want to do that?"<br>"Stop trying to choke me and I'll tell you everything," Arthur promised. Green eyes met green eyes, and despite hard searching Vash could find no falsehood in the orbs of his counterpart.

The corridor was quiet and slightly dark, for the night was drawing in outside.  
>"It might not seem like it, but I love being around younger countries," Arthur began. "And not in a creepy way. I love watching them start small, but slowly grow and flourish."<br>"Go on." Vash tilted his head slightly. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't this.  
>"That was why I made so many colonies," explained Arthur. "Of course, there was the element of expanding my empire, but I wanted to build something new, watch it live, be <em>proud<em> of it. Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, even –" he grimaced slightly, " – America, I'm proud of all of them, and it gives me great pride to call myself their older brother. Even when Alfred's being a twat," he muttered.  
>"But why my sister?" pressed Vash.<br>England chuckled. "Liechtenstein is the poster child for innocence. She's tiny, vulnerable and dependent on you for support – no army, no airport, a single hospital. And so easy to take advantage of."  
>"Don't talk about her in that way," spat Switzerland.<br>"We're on the same side," Arthur insisted. "I want to help you protect her from those with intentions that might not be as pure as mine."  
><em>That<em> made Vash stop in his tracks.  
>"I do think of her as a sort of younger sister," continued the Brit. "Unfortunately she doesn't see me that way. She fancies me."<br>"_What?_" Vash blanched, hand flying to his gun once more.  
>"Obviously I don't fancy her!" Arthur said quickly, putting his hands up. "But I want her to be happy, so I want to find another nice boy to go out with her."<br>"You damn well aren't!" Vash near shouted. "He'll take advantage of her!"  
>"Iceland's a good sort, and I think his brother will keep him straight-laced," countered Arthur.<br>"_Iceland?_ No, no, no –"  
>"Why not?"<br>Vash couldn't answer. All he knew was that it felt _wrong_, handing his younger sister over to another nation.  
>"Just think about it," Arthur said. "And watch how Iceland acts around her. He's completely head-over-heels in love with her. I think he'd do anything but take advantage of her."<br>And with that, he turned on his heel, walking smartly down the corridor. Vash heard him chuckle and say, "Oh, stop that Titania! You know what I meant!"  
>Maybe he did trust England – a bit – but there was no denying that he was a bit crazy.<p>

* * *

><p>"I'm going upstairs now," yawned Heracles. He leaned down to give Kiku a sweet kiss, before going up the stairs. Kiku smiled and touched his lips, although he was sure he was blushing.<br>Around the corner, Hungary was grinning and pinching her nose in attempt to ward off a nosebleed_. Me and Lakshmi did well!_ she cheered inwardly. Once she was sure she wasn't going to spurt blood everywhere, she approached her friend.

"Hey, Kiku," she grinned.  
>"Hello Elizabeta-kun," the Japanese boy smiled.<br>"So, I was thinking," the Hungarian girl began, "because you and Heracles were one of our success stories, would you consider joining me and Lakshmi to help set up couples?"  
>"Of course," replied Kiku, bowing politely.<br>"Aw, Kiku, I told you not to do that to me!" giggled Elizabeta. "But now, in all seriousness, we already have an assignment."  
>"And what assignment would that be?" asked Kiku in a mock-businesslike tone.<br>"Well, it's quite _discreet_ too," whispered Elizabeta. "It's… Lakshmi and Vash."

Kiku was quite surprised. "Lakshmi and Vash? Forgive me, Elizabeta-kun, but they have very different personalities. Are you sure –"  
>"Opposites attract," argued Elizabeta. "And they're in love. They just aren't aware of it."<br>"Well, if you're sure…"  
>"I'm sure! Thanks Kiku!" Elizabeta gave him a high-five – she knew he wasn't big on invasion of personal space – and ran off, her long hair flying out behind her.<br>Well, it was very kind of Elizabeta to try and help her friends find happiness, thought Kiku serenely as he too climbed the stairs. But… what had she meant by _'one of our success stories'_…?

* * *

><p><em>8:30 pm<em>  
>In a short movie break, England cornered America.<br>"Alfred, I have something to ask," he stated.  
>"Sure, whaddaya need?" grinned the American.<br>"Well." Arthur smirked. "I noticed this afternoon that you didn't quite ask _everyone_ about who they kissed." He raised an eyebrow in a very knowing way. Alfred swallowed.  
>"Well, there was no need to ask everyone, or everyone's names would just get repeated," he laughed nervously.<br>"That's not what I mean and you know it," replied Arthur. "For instance, you didn't tell us who _you_ kissed."  
>"Well, I kissed a bunch of people." Alfred nodded vigorously. "Yeah, 'cause I'm the hero, I was helping everyone!"<br>"Riiiight. And it also came to by attention that you didn't ask Belarus."  
>"Umm." Alfred had no immediate answer. "I, uh, I must have done!" he said, going down the 'denial' route.<p>

"Don't underestimate my powers of observation," snapped Arthur, "and don't play me for a fool. You and Belarus were the only ones who didn't confess who you kissed, and now you're practically sweating bullets now that I'm talking about her. _You kissed her, didn't you Alfred?_"  
>"Uhh…" Alfred was reeling inside. He hadn't been that obvious, had he? No one else had noticed, right? It was just because England was weird that he noticed! But the problem now was: to tell or not to tell?<p>

On one hand, this was England, the one he'd fought a war to get independence from, the one who scoffed at and ridiculed him at every opportunity.  
>One the other, this was England, his former older brother, the one who had cared for him so kindly until those taxes had been raised, the one who America asked to watch horror movies with when he was too scared to be alone, the one– even though it pained America to admit this – still gave him some sort of… security-type feeling…<p>

"Okay, fine, I kissed her!" he blurted. Well, it would have come out sooner or later. He really was bad at keeping secrets.  
>"I knew it," said Arthur victoriously. "But before I congratulate you on finding someone, how on Earth did you get her to kiss <em>you<em>?"  
>"Hey! That's offensive!"<br>"It's only the truth."  
>"Whatever." Alfred thought back to that – <em>golden<em> – moment. "I was looking for her because Katyusha had lost her and was really upset. I found her, but she was crying, and she looked so, I dunno, different from usual, all helpless and sobbing. And then… that was when I kissed her."

England raised one of his (cough*HUGE*cough) eyebrows.  
>"And what are you going to do now?"<br>"Uh… whaddaya mean, what am I going to do now?"  
>"You can't just <em>forget<em> about this!" Arthur sighed. "Really, I thought I taught you better than that! Can you imagine what she must be thinking? How her feelings must be in turmoil? You wouldn't just _leave _her like that, would you?"  
>"Calm down! You're sounding like I committed a crime or something!" Alfred rubbed his eyes. "I know, I should talk to her or something…"<br>"You do that. Also, what film are we watching tomorrow? I'd like to suggest a psychological thriller."  
>Alfred rolled his eyes. Only Arthur. "Nah, I was thinking a horror movie. Like <em>Orphan<em>." He loved horror movies! And maybe Natalya would be scared, and she would bury her face in his shoulder, and he could comfort her in a very heroic way…  
>"I'm not fussed," Arthur chuckled. "Just remember – Belarus is made of strong stuff. She won't be scared of <em>Orphan<em>."

And before Alfred could retort, Arthur was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>James Kirkland <strong>wrote on **Bella Janssens**' Wall  
>I love you!<p>

**Bella Janssens **I love you too :)

**James Kirkland **I love you more ;)

**Bella Janssens **I love YOU more ;D

**James Kirkland **I love you MORE than more 8D

**Peter Kirkland **Saaaaadddd.

**James Kirkland **Only because you're too young to understand

**Peter Kirkland **I AM NOT! I'M A REAL NATION!

**James Kirkland **Just keep telling yourself that, wee man ;)

* * *

><p>Ukraine crept into her sister's room. Hungary and Ireland were downstairs and Belgium was out, so she knew her sister would be alone. And sure enough, Belarus was lying face down on her bed, still as a dead girl.<br>"Little sister?" Katyusha whispered, her voice trembling slightly. She didn't want her sister to be sad!  
>"Go away, sister," growled the younger girl into her pillow.<br>"Please, little sister, please tell me what's wrong!" begged Katyusha, sitting on the side of Natalya's bed. "I can do whatever you need!"  
>"You can do nothing." Natalya turned her head and Katyusha saw that her eyes were bloodshot and puffy.<br>"Little sister!" she wailed, throwing her arms around Natalya and sobbing into her shoulder. "Why are you crying?"  
>Natalya shoved half-heartedly at her sister. "Get off me, sister."<br>"Tell me what's wrong!"  
>"…I will if you get off me," agreed Natalya grudgingly. Katyusha let go of her sister like she was on fire and sat back.<p>

"I… I think I might be in love with America!" Natalya whimpered, burying her head on her knees. Katyusha tipped her head to the side, confused.  
>"What's wrong with that, little sister?"<br>"I HATE AMERICA!" the younger nation shrieked. "I LOVE ONLY BIG BROTHER!"  
>"Oh, little sister, can't you see that America is a better match for you than our brother?" Katyusha sighed. "Why do you hate America?"<br>"He's horrible!"  
>"What has he done to you, little sister?"<br>"Nothing..." Natalya muttered. "But I still love Big Brother!"  
>"Big Brother is happy with Yao –"<p>

Suddenly Ukraine was pinned on her back on the bed with Belarus holding a knife to her throat. "Little sister!" she cried, big tears welling in her eyes. Natalya looked as shocked as Katyusha felt.  
>"I'm sorry, big sister," she sniffed, before collapsing into her older sister's arms. "But I don't know what else to do…"<br>"Oh, little sister…" Katyusha stroked Natalya's hair. "I hate it when you are not happy. And when you chase Big Brother, you are not happy. And now, you are not happy. But America will make you happy, I promise. You have nothing to lose, little sister, and everything to gain."

* * *

><p>Japan and Greece had pulled their two single beds together and were lying facing each other with their fingers entwined. The room was comfortably dark and quiet – there had been some sort of kitchen crisis downstairs so nobody was coming up for a while – and the new couple were just enjoying the feeling of being alone together.<br>"I have loved you… ever since the time where we tried to get angry," murmured Heracles. "And all you could do… was be slightly irritated…"  
>Kiku chuckled at the memory before remembering something he had wanted to say to Heracles.<br>"I was talking to Elizabeta-kun today, and she asked if we wanted to join her in making Vash-kun and Lakshmi-kun a couple."  
>"That's fine," nodded Heracles, shutting his eyes and yawning.<br>"She also said something that I didn't quite understand. She said that she wanted us to help because we were 'one of her success stories', what does that mean?"

Heracles' eyes opened again.  
>"It means that her and Lakshmi set us up."<p>

"…What?"  
>"You didn't realise what they were doing?" Heracles frowned slightly. "I though it was obvious. They enlisted the help of all the other female nations, America too."<br>All Kiku could do was bury his face in Heracles' shoulder in embarrassment.

* * *

><p><strong>Lakshmi Patel<strong> ARTHUR KIRKLAND RUINED MY PARANTHAS! D:

**Yao Wang** This is why you don't let him into the kitchen.  
>8 people like this<p>

**Lakshmi Patel** I made him ROLL THE DOUGH. How did he manage to make them so disgusting?

**Alfred F. Jones** Dude, everyone knows that you don't let Artie help you cook anything! Duuhhh!

**Lovino Vargas** What kind of dumb fuck lets that bastard help them cook?

**Vash Zwingli** DON'T CALL HER A DUMB FUCK!

**Ludwig Beilschmit** His cuisine is not that terrible…

**Francis Bonnefoy** Ludwig, you have never had the most refined taste buds.

**James Kirkland** His cooking isn't that bad!

**Francis Bonnefoy** That's because yours is worse!  
>15 people like this<p>

**Arthur Kirkland** WHY IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT ME BEHIND MY BACK?

* * *

><p><strong>Annd, there you have it! I admit it, England and America brotherly moments are cute. But brotherly is all that it is! I HATE USUK DX<strong>

** Elizabeta is insightful, Kiku is dense, Alfred is _thinking_, Arthur is meddling and Natalya is sobby. The world is wrong. The last part is actually based on what each country thinks of English food: lands where you get marvellous food, like France, Italy, China and India, think that English food isn't nice, whereas Germany and Scotland think it's fine. True facts *nods wisely* There was an article in the Metro saying that Germans like traditional English food. **

**The next update won't come for a while because I have a day trip to Belgium and then a week in Italy, and so won't have any time for working on this. But only two or three chapters left! :D**


	12. If Music Be The Food of Love

**Chapter 12. I literally wrote 3/4 of this is one sitting. My most heartfelt apologies go out to all of you who have been waiting for so long! I'm in my school production, as the second main character, and don't get home until seven p.m three days out of five each week, so my writing time has been seriously cut. The production's over in two weeks, but until then I don't forsee any more updates... I'm wringing my brains as it is :( Then again, you never know~ Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 12: If Music Be The Food of Love<span>

Friday morning

"India? What are you doing down here so early?"

Wales had entered the kitchen early that morning to start preparing breakfast, only to find a frustrated Lakshmi rolling out some dough.  
>"Oh Evan," she sighed, not looking up from her preparations. "Your idiot cousin ruined half my food last night, so I'm making more."<br>Evan grabbed a chair – yes, he was a bit too short to reach the highest cupboards, but that's a side effect of having a population of just three million – to get the boxes of cereal.  
>"I thought that it was just me, the twins, James and Bella already awake."<br>"What are they doing at this time?"  
>"Watching BBC Alba." Evan jumped off the chair and opened the fridge to get milk, butter and jam.<br>"What's that?"  
>"The Gaelic BBC channel." The curly-haired boy put all the refrigerated items onto a large tray.<p>

"Good, good…" Lakshmi threw one of the paranthas into a pan on the stove. Then she stopped. "Wait, did you say that Bella, as in _Belgium_, was watching a TV show in Gaelic?"  
>"Yes."<br>"Does she know Gaelic?"  
>"No."<br>"Are there subtitles?"  
>"No."<br>"Then why is she watching it?"

"Love conquers all, they say," grinned Evan, picking up the now loaded tray, pushing the door open with his shoulder, and exiting the room.

* * *

><p>"Everybody…?" Evan called across the two long tables, where the nations were eating breakfast and chatting. Everybody ignored him, due to his relatively quiet voice. The Welsh boy sighed, running and hand through his curls, before nudging James beside him.<p>

"EVERYBODY LISTEN!" hollered the tall redhead. Everyone went silent and turned to look at James expectantly. "There ye go," smiled James to Evan, who gave him and nod of thanks and stood up.

"Okay, everyone, I just wanted to say that there is no official plan today – we're staying in the hostel." Evan twiddled his fingers nervously. "But since it is my belief that song is the best way of bonding –" (Germany blushed as he looked across his table at Italy and thought of the other definition of the word _bonding_) " – I've set up a karaoke machine in the games room, fully set up with songs in many languages and with six microphones. And I would appreciate it if everyone at least tried to sing something."

With that, he sat down, earning rapturous applause from Scotland and the Ireland twins. The rest of the nations resumed their breakfasts, but where now talking about karaoke.

"Hey Norge, if music is the best way of bonding, maybe we should sing something together," grinned Denmark, raising his eyebrows suggestively at Norway.  
>"Why would I want to bond with you?" deadpanned Christian. "You're annoying."<br>"Aw, that's not what you said last –" Mathias was cut off by Christian smacking the back of his head so hard that he actually flew forwards and hit his head on the table, jarring all the dishes.

Iceland was ignoring all of them. He was staring down the table at Lili, watching as she talked quietly to her brother, India, Austria and Hungary. As she smiled sweetly at _them_, as she took her _brother's_ hand…

Suddenly Freyr stood up and stalked out of the room.

Sweden watched him go, then turned back to his little group.  
>"Wha's wrong w'th him?"<p>

"Nothing," said Norway, gazing into the middle distance with those big blank eyes of his. "There is nothing wrong with him."  
>"<em>He's in love<em>," Norway's troll hissed – but of course Christian was the only one who could hear it.  
>"I know," Christian murmured. "But he'll figure it out."<p>

Freyr could feel everything bubbling in his chest like a volcano about to erupt – all his feelings, his hopes, his doubts, everything he had ever felt for Liechtenstein since the first time he saw her at that meeting. He felt like he was going to erupt soon! But he couldn't let that happen. He needed to let it out, he needed to shout, to scream… to _sing_.

And that was how, in a spur-of-the-moment decision, he ended up in the games room, in front of the karaoke machine, waiting for a song to load and self-consciously holding a microphone. When the opening chords began to play, he took a deep breath to steady himself and opened his mouth.

"_Hey there Delilah, what's it like in New York City?_"  
>He wasn't completely in tune, and his accent mangled the words a little bit.<br>"_I'm a thousand miles away, but girl, tonight you look so pretty_  
><em>Yes, you do<em>  
><em>Times Square can't shine as bright as you<em>  
><em>I swear it's true<em>."

* * *

><p>Canada had just finished his breakfast and was on his way upstairs to clean his teeth when he heard a pretty song float down the hall. Someone was using the karaoke machine already? Deciding to go and see who it was, he slipped unnoticed into the games room. It was Iceland.<p>

"_Oh, it's what you do to me,  
>Oh, it's what you do to me."<br>_Wow, Ice had a really heartfelt voice.

To **Gilbert** from **Matthew  
><strong>Come to the games room, Iceland's singing a really pretty song. But be quiet!

* * *

><p>"<em>Hey there Delilah, I've got so much left to say<br>If every simple song I wrote to you would take your breath away  
>We'd have it all."<br>_How true those words were! Aisu shut his eyes and let the melody fill his mind.

* * *

><p>"Hey, West!" shouted Prussia across the dining room. "Apparently Iceland's singing some song. Wanna come watch?"<p>

"I'll come," offered Arthur, nudging Vash beside him. "Come and see the person you doubt so much bare his soul," he whispered. Switzerland frowned, but followed Arthur and Gilbert.

"_Oh, it's what you do to me,  
>Oh, it's what you do to me<em>."

"I see what you mean," whispered (well, if you could call it whispering, it was more like talking in Prussia's case) Gilbert to his boyfriend. "He's got a pretty nice voice."  
>"He sounds like a lovesick fool," hissed Vash.<br>"Isn't that a good thing?" Arthur pointed out.

"_Oh it's what you do to me,  
>Oh, it's what you do to me,<br>What you do to me…"_

Iceland trailed off. Phew, he had really needed that. Now he was calm again. He flicked the karaoke machine off, set the microphone down, and turned to leave – only to jump violently when he saw his audience.

"What –?" was the only thing that escaped his mouth.  
>"That was very nicely done, bravo," smiled Matthew.<br>"You must be really in love!" teased Gilbert, laughing that funny cackle of his, before throwing an arm around Canada's shoulder. The two left together, talking about how they would sing a duet to 'Canadian Please'. This left England, Iceland and Switzerland alone in the room.

The temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.  
>"Freyr," England smiled jovially. "If you don't mind, we'd like to have a little chat."<p>

Switzerland huffed and put a hand on his gun. Aisu's eyes widened slightly. England alone, he could deal with, but with an armed Switzerland in tow… he tried to keep his face as expressionless as possible – a talent he'd picked up from Norway – but inside he was trembling.

"Vash, hands off your gun," sighed Arthur.  
>"Shut up, I'll hold my gun whenever I want!" snapped Vash. He couldn't trust Iceland! Just look at that blank expression – he obviously didn't care about talking to them, so why would he care about Lili?<p>

"He's not going to talk to us if he's worried you'll shoot him."  
>"I don't care about <em>talking<em> to the brat!"

_They sound like a good cop and a bad cop_, thought Aisu.

"What's this about?" Aisu tried to keep his voice to a monotone. "I have other things to do."  
>Vash looked like he was going to say something, but Arthur interrupted, "We'd like to talk to you about Liechtenstein."<br>"L-Liechtenstein?" He couldn't hold in the stutter. _Why would they want to talk to me about Lili?_

"We want to make sure you don't threaten her in any way!" barked Switzerland.  
>"We want you to know that we are keeping a close eye on you," agreed England, "but at the same time, we are allowing you to… court her, shall we say."<br>"'Court her'?" Okay, so first he was shouted at, then he was being told he could go for her? Very mixed messages.

"We're giving you our permission to be in a relationship with her," clarified Arthur. Vash just scowled, until Arthur elbowed him sharply, and the Swiss boy coughed out, "Yes, we are."

"But, we trust that you won't take advantage of her in any way, threaten her, or do anything that makes her even remotely uncomfortable, understood?"

The lights in the room dimmed and the temperature actually dropped a few degrees this time – Arthur was proving that he could and would use magic. Aisu shuddered, and Vash… relaxed slightly?

_Well, at least I know the brat has feelings,_ thought Vash. But he still didn't really trust him…

"Do you accept our terms?" asked Arthur. Aisu replayed the whole scene in his head. England and Switzerland had told him that he was allowed to date Liechtenstein, provided that he didn't do anything she didn't want. Did he accept?

"Of course I accept!" Iceland choked out. This was a blessing! Never had he imagined that he would get the chance to go near Lili, and now he was being offered it? "I accept with all my heart!"

The room brightened up again, and the temperature returned to normal. Arthur smiled, eyes shining kindly.

"Oh good, I was hoping you'd say yes," he grinned, half to Aisu and half to himself. Switzerland didn't even crack a smile. Instead, he put a hand on his gun and stepped towards Aisu.

"You know what will happen if you break your promise," he hissed. "And if I find Lili unhappy in any way when she's with you…" He left the threat dangling in the air, before stalking out of the room, Arthur on his heels.

Aisu pulled out his mobile lighting-fast and opened his browser.

**Freyr Johansen **wrote on **Lili Zwingli**'s Wall

Meet me in the ice cream parlour as soon as you can – and your brother already said yes!

* * *

><p>Vash stomped down the hall, en route to the kitchen. He was in a bad mood after dealing with Iceland – he didn't want to put Lili in any sort of danger, dammit! Arthur seemed to think the brat was safe, but Vash had his doubts, just like he had with everyone…<p>

He flung open the kitchen door and was shocked to find Lakshmi at the stove, rolling dough, heating roti's and stirring two pots, moving her hands faster than it looked possible. She was wearing a green salwar kameez with the scarf over her head in a modest fashion that was unlike her.

"Lakshmi?"

She spun around and smiled. "Perfect timing," she sang. "Sit down!"  
>"Wha – ?" Vash was pushed into a chair before he could even ask what was happening, and a plate of food was pressed into his hands. The blond looked down at a steaming roti and a small bowl of dahl that he hadn't seen before. He looked up to enquire as to what it was…<p>

Lakshmi's eyes, shining with excitement, and her rosebud lips forming a happy smile…

Vash felt a tingling in the pit of his stomach. _She's my best friend! My best friend!_

Setting the plate carefully on his lap, Vash gently tore the roti, scooped up some of the dahl and popped it in his mouth. A familiar taste washed over his tastebuds. _It couldn't be._

"Do you like it?" asked Lakshmi, jigging up and down in excitement.  
>"Is this… <em>cheese?<em>"  
>"Yes!" cried Lakshmi. "I made it especially for you because I know how much you love the cheese!"<p>

_A dahl with cheese in it? She made it especially for me…?_

Vash swallowed, feeling his face heat up. _That's_ what Roderich had been sniggering about for the past day. He was in love with India and he was so stupid he hadn't even realised. It had only ever been her – he was the first to recognise her as independent from England, and the long friendship started at that moment had lasted until this day.

But he couldn't have her.

She deserved a man who was charming, fun, handsome, full of energy and vigour, so much like herself, and so much the opposite of him.

Vash swallowed again, and abruptly stood up, pushing the dish into Lakshmi's hands with a hurried "thank you" and all but ran from the kitchen, leaving a confused Lakshmi staring after him, wondering what she had done.

* * *

><p>True to their word, Prussia and Canada sang 'Canadian Please' – very off pitch – in front of a crowd. After that, Denmark started a Eurovision theme.<p>

"_I'm in love with a fairytale  
>Even though it hurts.<br>'Cause I don't care if I lose my mind;  
>I'm already cursed!"<em>  
>Mathias sang theatrically, sashaying around and pointing at Norway – who just looked annoyed that his winning Eurovision song was being abused in such a way –, swinging his hips and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. When he was done he received much applause. Finland took the microphone next.<p>

"_I will be popular, I will be popular  
>I'm gonna get there, popular<br>My body wants you girl, my body wants you girl  
>I get you when I'm popular!"<em>  
>Sweden had gone bright red and was staring at the floor as Tino belted out the catchy song and everyone else nodded along in time to the music.<p>

Natalya shot a quick look at Alfred. He wasn't looking at her.

About five seconds later Alfred glanced at Natalya. She wasn't looking a him.

This pattern carried on all through Tino's rendition of 'Popular'. America and Belarus might not have noticed each other, but there were two people who had. Who, very coincidently, happened to be standing next to each other.

"Katyusha, can you see Alfred and Natalya?" muttered Arthur, gesturing discreetly to the pair, who were standing on opposite sides of the room.

Ukraine nodded with a happy smile. Her little sister had a crush on America! So cute!  
>"I think they need a bit of a push in the right direction," murmured the English boy.<br>"I agree," whispered Katyusha.

Once the song was over, and Finland got some hearty applause, Wales stepped up to the machine.  
>"I'm so happy you're all enjoying the singing!" he grinned. "Now, who's next?"<br>"Alfred!" shouted Arthur. After a split second everyone cheered, and America stepped forwards.

"I'm choosing the song," said Arthur. "And Alfred, shut your eyes. The song is a surprise."

Alfred frowned.  
>"Hey, what if you try to embarrass me?" He shook his head. "I don't wanna sing now."<br>"I won't try to embarrass you!" tutted Arthur.  
>"How can I trust you?"<br>"The things I do for you, git," hissed Arthur under his breath, before looking Alfred in the eye and saying, "If you sing this one mystery song, I will sing 'Allez Ola Ole', the Eurovision entry 2010 for France."

There was a moment of silence while everyone took this in, before Francis burst out laughing and said, "Will you do the dance moves too?"

"Shut it!" snapped Arthur, before holding out the microphone to his former colony.

Alfred had heard about 'Allez Ola Ole', and let's just say that it was a good enough deal to get to him to sing this one 'mystery song'.

"_I'm feeling great and it's easy to be strong  
>When all the hearts keep on beating as one<br>The sky is blue and I'm writing a new song  
>Saying that I'm free, friendly and young,"<em>  
>This song wasn't bad, thought Alfred happily. He could just get this over with, and then he could watch Iggy embarrass himself!<p>

"_I have so much and I'm ready to show you  
>Let's come together, so here is my hand<br>We're gonna fly watching lakes in their full view  
>Fields are full of gold, and it's all my land,"<em>  
>By now, all the European nations had recognised the song: the 2011 entry for Belarus. Everyone was trying to hold in laughter – Alfred was going to make such a fool of himself! – apart from Russia, who's expression had gone stony, and Belarus, who'd paled so much that her face was the same colour as printer paper.<p>

"_I love_ –WHAT?"  
>What the hell was this song?<br>"Sing it, Alfred!" somebody called.  
>No way could he sing this song! He would get so embarrassed, and it was totally unheroic anyway!<p>

But… wouldn't it be more unheroic not to sing? What if she got offended because he didn't want to sing?

"Come on, Alfred," he said to himself, before taking a deep breath to steady himself before throwing himself into the next chorus.

"_I love Belarus, got it deep inside!  
>I love Belarus, feel it in my mind!<br>And I wanna see the sun shining from above  
>You will always be the one, I can't get enough<br>And I'm gonna every day give you all my love!"_

Alfred risked opening his tightly-shut eyes to sneak a peek at Natalya, only to see the ends of her long hair whip as she fled out of the door. Unthinkingly he dropped the microphone and ran after her.

Evan turned off the song, now that it had no singer, switched it, and handed the microphone to Arthur.  
>"I believe you promised us 'Allez Ola Ole'?"<p>

* * *

><p>"Natalya! Wait up!" Alfred ran as fast as his legs could carry him after the platinum blonde girl. Natalya actually ran out of the hostel and onto the street, running in the direction of the beach. He had to catch her, he just had to catch her!<p>

With a sudden burst of speed America mananged to catch up and overtake Belarus, before stopping so suddenly that she crashed into him and they both fell onto the pavement. They lay there for a few seconds, breathing hard, before Alfred registered the pain in the back of his head and groaned. Natalya shifted, as if trying to get up, but Alfred realized what she was doing and wrapped his arms around her waist, locking her against him and effectively preventing her escape.

"Hear me out, Natalya," he whispered hoarsely, shutting his eyes. Natalya scowled and tried to squirm free of his grasp, but the American was too strong.

"I'm sorry… if I embarrassed you," said Alfred, as gently as he could manage. "And I'm sorry… if you don't want anything to do with me…"  
>"My sister wants me to have a relationship with you," interrupted Belarus bluntly.<br>"She's not the only one," replied America with a cheeky grin. Belarus scowled again.  
>"Just say what you want to say," she snapped.<br>"All I want from you is a chance. A chance to let me be with you… a chance to let me love you."

Natalya blushed scarlet. _America_, saying such things to _her_? If she wasn't right there to witness it, she would never have believed it.  
>"I… I suppose… I suppose I could give you a chance," she admitted sullenly. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about the American idiot, but he was being a bit less stupid that he usually was.<p>

"Great!" he exclaimed, threading his fingers through her long, soft hair so that he could bring her head down far enough to give her a quick kiss on the lips. Natalya was shocked at how unexpected and yet how _nice_ it felt. "Let's start our date right now!"  
>Alfred wriggled out from underneath Natalya, stood up, then lifted the thin girl to her feet – she really was very light.<br>"Idiot, how can we have a date when there is nowhere to go?" mumbled Natalya, blushing.  
>"There's that ice cream parlour, let's go there!" Alfred grabbed Natalya's hand and led her down the street.<p>

* * *

><p>"Liechtenstein…"<br>"Yes, Iceland?" Lili and Freyr were sitting at one of the small tables in the ice cream parlour.  
>"Please, call me Freyr." The Icelandic was shifting nervously, but Lili didn't quite understand why.<br>"I will call you Freyr if you call me Lili," she smiled, taking a lick of her strawberry ice cream.

"Okay, Lili…" Aisu gulped nervously. "I was just wondering if… youwantedtobewithme."  
>"I'm sorry, what did you say?"<br>"I was wondering if you wanted… to be… with me…" Iceland blushed to the roots of his hair.

Lili squealed happily.  
>"A diplomatic relation! Oh, of course! Of course I'll have foreign relations with you, Freyr!"<br>She leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek before beginning to chatter about something.

Iceland was torn between facepalming because of how dense she was being, and melting because she had kissed him.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Vash was sitting in his room, cleaning his fourth gun. When he was stressed in any way, he took his rifles apart, cleaned every part inside, and then fitted it back together. And he really needed to think now.<p>

He loved Lakshmi. But he wanted Lakshmi to have a man who would be right for her. Well, if he had to change so that he could give her what she wanted, that was what he would do.

* * *

><p>Iceland and Liechtenstein crept into the games room halfway through the first DVD, the original <em>Snow White and the Seven Dwarves<em>, which many nations were getting sentimental over. Switzerland snuck downstairs and hid in the back just when they were starting the third movie, _Bambi_, and America made a grand entrance at the end of _Alice in Wonderland_. (Natalya had decided she didn't want to face the rest of the nations.)

The couples among the nations snuggled together as they remembered the first time they had seen the original Disney films. And overall, it was the first relatively normal evening on the whole trip.

* * *

><p><strong>And Chapter 12 is done. I'm sorry if it's terrible, I've been trying to write it for weeks! The ending was crap, I know, and there was no Giripan in the whole chapter, but I forgot that I hadn't written about Friday so this was a bit of an 'OMG need some random stuff for them to do'. And I came up with karaoke ^^" <strong>

**In the next chapter they go swimming, there is a disco, and there is an England pairing! Thank you once again for bothering to read this far!**

**By the way, if you haven't seen Eurovision, I would recommend looking up the Eurovision songs: 'Norway 2009 Fairytale', 'Sweden 2011 Popular' and 'Belarus 2011 I love Belarus' ;D**


	13. It's All Going Swimmingly

**Oh God, here it is. Written in about twenty four hours. There are no words for my apologies for your long wait. Thank you to Beloved of Eireann for getting my arse in gear enough to write. I hope it was worth the wait ;u;**

**Oh yeah, and I don't own the magic techniques mentioned in this chapter. I blatantly pinched those from 'Merlin' :P **

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 13: It's All Going Swimmingly<span>

_Saturday, 1 a.m._

Spain woke up suddenly. His sleep-addled brain told him _You've overslept! It's morning! _Oblivious to the fact that Romano, Latvia and France were all still asleep and that it was still dark outside, Antonio stumbled around, grabbing a towel and some clothes. He was going to have a nice long shower.

Half an hour later, the fire alarm went off.

The occupants of Room 3 all jerked awake.  
>"What's that ringing?" asked Feliciano sleepily.<br>"…The fire alarm?" Evan listened closer. "Yes, it's the fire alarm!"

The curly-haired boy jumped out of bed.  
>"Everybody, leave now, and tell anyone you see to get out!" he told the occupants of his own room, before running down the corridor, opening every door he passed. Nations stumbled out of their rooms, and headed for the stairs. Some were more scared than others (Latvia was trembling so hard he could hardly walk in a straight line, whereas Greece was still mostly asleep, being dragged along by Japan and China). Once everyone was out on the road, shivering in the chilly night air, Evan did a quick count and realized that there was someone missing.<p>

"The tomato bastard is still inside!" growled Romano, scowling. "He's in the bathroom, and he locked the door!"  
>Wales sighed – there was always one – and ran back inside.<p>

When Evan got to Room 7, he realised that the bathroom door was locked – and he didn't have a key. Well, there was only one thing for it. He cast a furtive glance around the room before training his eyes on the door handle and whispering a short incantation. His green eyes shone gold for a split-second before the lock unclicked and the door swung open.

Immediately, a cloud of steam billowed from inside the bathroom, and Evan could see the silhoutte of Antonio through the shower curtain.  
>"Hey!" he shouted. "Spain!"<br>But Antonio was completely oblivious. Cursing whatever greater power that was making him do this twice in one day, Evan murmured another spell and his eyes shone gold once more. Suddenly the water stopped.

"Ehh?" Antonio twisted the shower nozzle back and forth, but the water still didn't turn on. Then he registered the ringing.  
>"Spain!"<br>"_Dios mio!_" Antonio jumped violently. "Who is it? What's that bell?"  
>"It's Wales, and that bell is the fire alarm you've set off with all your steam!"<br>"Fire alarm?"  
>"Just throw these on and get outside!" Wales tossed some underwear, a pair of trousers and a tee over the top of the shower stall.<p>

The two nations emerged out onto the crowded road to cheers and claps. Spain got a hug from Belgium and a rough smack on the back of the head from Romano.  
>"Bastard! What the hell were you doing locked in the bathroom at one in the morning?"<br>"One in the morning?" Spain was confused. "What time is it now?"  
>"Just gone half past one! Idiot!"<br>"So… it wasn't the morning… Ohhh, I understand now! I thought it was the morning, so I took a shower." Antonio smiled sunnily, much to the irritation of his southern Italian boyfriend.  
>"Ve, Wales is so brave!" cheered Feliciano. "He went back into a burning building to save Big Brother Spain!"<p>

"The hostel isn't actually burning," corrected Evan. "Seems that the steam from the shower overwhelmed the fire alarm and set it off." The whole group groaned – that was exactly the sort of thing Spain would do. "You can all go back to bed, I'll turn off the alarm."

"Well, that was a bit of excitement!" exclaimed India to Switzerland on their way back inside. Vash was about to snap something along the lines of Spain being an idiot, before remembering his promise to himself and forcing what he thought was a 'carefree' expression.  
>"These things happen," he replied, shrugging and trying to smile slightly. It felt so alien, that expression!<br>Lakshmi was confused – Vash wasn't acting like himself. Maybe it was because he was still half asleep? But wasn't he a light sleeper? The few extra hours of sleep would do him good, she decided.

Once everyone was back in their rooms, Wales wondered if he could really be bothered to go down into the cold cellar to turn of the bell. Deciding against it and feeling showy this (very, very early) morning, he snapped his fingers, his eyes glowed, and the bell went silent.

* * *

><p><strong>Toris Laurinatis <strong>I can't get back to sleep now :(

**Matthew Williams **Same here.

**Eduard von Bock **I'm having the same problem…

**Raivis Galante **Mme nnneitherrr

**Matthew Williams **?

**Eduard von Bock **It's because he's shaking, he's pressing some keys more than once.

* * *

><p>Evan decided that everyone could do with a bit more sleep and didn't go round to wake people up until nearly nine. Everyone was a lot more relaxed; it was Saturday, they were going home the next morning, they wanted to take their time.<br>"Excuse me?"  
>Everyone went quiet quickly – everyone respected Evan that bit more for getting Spain (most people liked the happy-go-lucky Spaniard to some extent), for turning off the bell quickly and for letting them have a lie-in.<br>"We're going swimming today. It's not a fancy pool, but it's got a couple of slides, a Jacuzzi and a sauna room. We're leaving as soon as everyone's ready, so pack a bag with your swimming costume and any shower stuff."

"What if somebody didn't want to swim?" asked Norway.  
>"Well, there's a café where you could sit. In that case, I recommend bringing some money."<br>"That's great, but seriously, who in their right mind wouldn't want to swim?" exclaimed Denmark, grinning at Norway. Christian just glared witheringly at the spiky-haired blond until the penny dropped.  
>"Come on Norge! You have to swim! Swim! Pleasepleaseplease!"<br>"No."  
>"<em>Pleeeeeee<em> –"  
>"I'm definitely not swimming now."<br>"Okay, okay, if I'm quiet and I don't annoy you, you'll swim, yeah?" Mathias asked hopefully.  
>"I'll think about it."<br>Mathias grinned happily and turned to stare down at his lap with his arms crossed, evidently concentrating hard on being quiet. Christian smiled inside; it was all just a ploy to get Mathias to be quiet. He wasn't going to swim.

Next to him Iceland was reeling inside about how similar him and his older brother (much as he hated to admit it) were: he didn't want to swim either. Sadly, he didn't have anyone to wheedle him into changing his mind.

* * *

><p><strong>Alfred F. Jones <strong>Like this if you're swimming! Comment if you aren't, and it better be a good reason!  
><strong>33 people<strong> like this

**Christian Johansen **I don't want to.

**Freyr Johansen **^ see above

**Alfred F. Jones **You guys are BORING!

**Toris Laurinatis **I'm not sure…

**Alfred F. Jones **Why? You gotta come, Toris!

**Toris Laurinatis **but… you know… :/

**Alfred F. Jones **Oh, I get you. Wear a shirt!

**Toris Laurinatis **What? Wear a shirt in the water?

**Alfred F. Jones **Yeah! Come on Toriiiiiiiiiiiiiis

**Toris Laurinatis **Alright, I'll do it…

**Arthur Kirkland **I'm not.

**Alfred F. Jones **ARTIE YOU HAVE TO!

**Arthur Kirkland **No I don't. I'll be with Norway and Iceland in the café.

**Alfred F. Jones **You're going to miss out on SO MUCH FUN

* * *

><p>As breakfast was being cleared away and the nations were goig upstairs, America gingerly approached Belarus, who was standing in the corner of the dining room, a plastic bag clutched in her hand.<br>"Hey," he smiled, a bit less heroic and more shy than he would have liked. When she saw him, Natalya didn't quite smile, but her usual stony expression softened a bit. Encouraged, Alfred got more confident. "I just wanted to ask, do you want to sit next to me on the bus?"  
>"Well… that's fine." The Belarusian girl looked down in what could have almost been embarrassment, if she'd been blushing. But of course, she didn't blush. Belarus didn't <em>blush<em>.  
>"Great!" grinned Alfred. "Well, I'll see you there!" Full of vigour now, he charged outside and jumped into the coach, running into the back and throwing himself down onto a seat – not at the very back, as he usually would, but on a set of two; he wanted Natalya to himself.<p>

"Someone's happy," remarked Aoife, shuffling her iPod and settling back into the seat she always took in the back row, between James and Cian.  
>"Natalya's sitting with me," replied Alfred happily. Aoife shuddered.<br>"Keep her away from me. Oh, and her underwear has Russian dolls on it."  
>"<em>What?<em> How – _what?_"  
>"I shared a room with her, I saw!" protested Aoife.<br>Alfred was torn between picturing Belarus in her underwear (a good image, he might add) and picturing Belarus in _Russian-doll_ patterned underwear. That brought obsession to a whole new level. He had some serious work to do.

* * *

><p>It was was supposed to take less than an hour to reach the town where the pool was. The coach was trundling along, the nations were chatting, laughing, screaming, annoying each other, throwing stuff, the usual. Evan had given up his seat at the front to come and sit with his cousins at the back – his cousins plus Belgium, who Scotland had sat on his lap. At first Netherlands had said it wasn't safe, especially since James had the middle seat and if the coach stopped suddenly Bella would go flying into the aisle, but had relented when James had strapped his seatbelt over the two of them; if his sister was honestly happy with this guy, then he was fine.<p>

The vehicle ground to a halt in front of a traffic light. Evan caught sight of a sign and suddenly burst out laughing. Arthur, Aoife, Cian, James, Bella and Alfred all turned to look at this seemingly hilarious sign, but on it read 'No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residental site only'. Underneath was the same phrase in Welsh. Alfred and Bella were confused, whereas the other Kirklands started laughing too.

"What? What's funny?" demanded Alfred.  
>"The Welsh!" snorted James.<br>"That's bad," chuckled Cian.  
>"All it says is 'No entry for heavy goods vehicles'…"<br>"It says that in English," corrected Evan, "but in Welsh, it says 'I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated'!"  
>The Kirklands collapsed into more laughter. Alfred joined them for a second, before pausing to say, "Wait. Since when is there a language called <em>Welsh<em>?"  
>The laughter abruptly stopped.<p>

"What?" Alfred was unaware of the bad vibes he was getting. "I thought they just spoke English in Wales…"  
>"I'm sorry Evan," said Arthur seriously, "but he's American, you understand."<p>

* * *

><p>The nations arrived at the pool about an hour over schedule, because of some serious traffic. Because of this, the usual troublemakers were practically bouncing off the walls of the coach and as soon as the door opened they were outside, jumping around, full of energy and excitement.<p>

Evan handed out orange plastic bracelets that let them use all of the equipment for free, and in a huge group, the nations went to the changing rooms. Norway, Iceland and England broke off to sit in the café, taking a circular table that was next to a huge window looking onto the pool. England sat next to the window, Norway sat opposite him, and Iceland sat in the seat that directly faced the window. They didn't speak for a while.

"I could feel magic in the hostel this morning," Norway suddenly said coolly. "Was it you, Arthur?"  
>"What do you mean, you could 'feel magic'?" asked England, purposely avoiding the question.<br>"I could sense that magic was used. Answer the question, Arthur."  
>"Well… this is strictly between us, understand?" replied Arthur uneasily. Christian nodded. "You too, Freyr, I don't want every nation knowing about this, especially after what happened with Kiku and Yao."<p>

Iceland nodded – he didn't _mean_ for the whole hostel to know what had happened that night that seemed so far away now, but in reality was only a few days ago – and Arthur sighed.  
>"It was Evan. He can use magic, and obviously he needed to use it this morning."<br>There was a silence, before Freyr asked incredulously, "_Wales?_ Wales can do magic?"

"I can't really say I'm surprised," murmured Christian.  
>"When you look at the full picture, it does make sense," agreed Arthur. Freyr was completely confused – what full picture? Quiet, cheerful Wales being able to do magic? It just didn't fit! But if that was how it was, that was that, he supposed, falling silent as Arthur and Christian continued a conversation.<p>

* * *

><p>Nations trickled out of the changing rooms one by one and dived into the clear, warm water. After a while, the tall room echoed with the sounds of laughter and shouts. Swimming races, breath-holding contests and floating competitions were held everywhere, and nobody so much as glanced at anyone else's scars. Evan had booked out the whole pool, so they had the whole complex to themselves.<p>

Switzerland, who was one of the only male nations who didn't have flag-patterned trunks, was standing on the edge of the pool, when Prussia suddenly ran past and with a loud cackle, shoved him into the water. The blond, taken by surprise, took in a breath of water and shot up to the surface, coughing and spluttering. He was about to completely flip his lid when he caught sight of India, who was swimming towards him worriedly, and squeezed his eyes shut, intent on keeping his cool.  
>"Come on Swissy!" jeered Gilbert. "Say something!"<br>"…Very funny."  
>"What?" Gilbert was shocked. Where was the priceless reaction he was desperate for?<br>"Good… joke," replied Vash stiltedly, trying to sound 'carefree'. Gilbert, who was struck dumb with shock, walked off in a haze – the world was all wrong! – and Vash sighed forcefully. This was hard. But he could manage it.

"Vash! Vash, are you alright?" Lakshmi grabbed his shoulders. "Are you hurt?"  
>"I'm fine, don't worry," replied Vash with a tiny smile. "In fact, that was even a bit fun!" he lied, managing a chuckle. Lakshmi looked shell-shocked.<br>"Did you hit your head?" she fretted, running her warm hands through his head, searching his scalp for any signs of injury. "I think you need to sit on the side! You're acting very strangely!"

* * *

><p>After about half an hour, Arthur entered the pool in his Union Jack patterned trunks and a t-shirt to sit on the side of the pool and chat to Kiku and Heracles.<br>"You two seem happy," he commented. Heracles was sleeping on a huge foam float, and Kiku was sitting on it beside him with legs in the water.  
>"We are," smiled Japan shyly, brushing a lock of Heracles' chocolate-brown hair out of his face.<br>"I wonder if this was Evan's plan all along, to allow people to form relationships…" Arthur mused. "Did you know that Iceland fancies Liechtenstein?"  
>"I did not know that," replied Kiku interestedly. Maybe this would be his and Elizabeta's next 'project'.<br>"But she fancies me, and she's such a sweet girl I don't want to hurt her feelings," said Arthur, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, "but I know that the longer I procrastinate, the worse it will get…"

"You need to tell her as soon as possible, Arthur-kun," said Kiku seriously. "Now is probably your best chance, while everybody is distracted."  
>"But how?"<br>"Tell her the truth. Say that you don't think of her as a… love interest. Say it as nicely as possible." Kiku looked around, and caught sight of the girl with Elizabeta and Roderich. "She is over there, take her to one side and be as discreet as possible."  
>"Alright…" Arthur stood up and walked along the edge of the pool, over to where Lili was treading water. "Er, Lili?" he called. The girl in question look up, smiled, and swam to the side of the pool.<br>"Yes, Arthur?" she smiled sweetly up at him. Arthur felt sad for having to say this to her, but reluctantly asked,  
>"Can I speak to you in private?"<br>"Of course!" Lili hoisted herself out of the water.

_What could he want to talk to _me_ about?_ wondered Lili as she followed the older boy over to the changing room door.  
>"Were you having fun?" Arthur seemed a bit nervous, and Lili felt a tingling in the pit of her stomach. Her crush was talking to her privately!<br>"Lots of fun, thank you."  
>"Now Lili, you're a lovely girl," began Arthur, "and I truly like you as a friend. However…" his eyes were sad, "I'm afraid I do not think of you in any way other than as a friend." His face went slightly red. "I do not think of you as a… love interest. I'm sorry."<p>

Lili's mouth fell open. She felt… empty, as if her stomach had suddenly dropped. She didn't feel upset, like she thought she would have… she didn't know how she felt. There was a wooden bench next to the wall and she sat down on it, feeling oddly detatched. Arthur said something that she couldn't quite hear, opened the door into the changing rooms, and left.

Through the large window, Iceland suddenly saw Lili sitting alone on the bench, looking like she was about to cry, and Switzerland was nowhere in sight. Without thinking he jumped up, ran into the changing rooms, pulled off his socks and shoes and sprinted fully-clothed through the door to the pool and over to Lili. She looked up, surprised when she saw him.

"Freyr?"  
>"What's wrong?" he demanded, sitting beside her.<br>"Why do you not have your swimming costume on?"  
>"It doesn't matter! Just tell me what's wrong!"<br>"I had a silly crush on England," she admitted with a small smile, "and he just told me he doesn't think of me that way. I'm just a little surprised, nothing to worry about."  
><em>She's so…<em> Iceland was stuttering inside his head, he was so overcome with emotion. She was tittering nervously, watching to see his reaction, when he suddenly leant over and kissed her lips. It was short, when he broke off, Lili looked confused.

"When I asked you if you wanted to be with me," he whispered, "I didn't mean a diplomatic relation."  
>Then he kissed her again, harder and sweeter this time, and Lili <em>understood<em>.

* * *

><p>Canada had been hiding in a changing cubicle all this time, dithering about what to do. He was now ready, in Canadian flag patterned trunks and a long sleeved red tee. He entered the pool, and with a shout that made everyone's heads turn, he took a running leap and dive-bombed into the pool. He popped up with his shirt soaked and a grin plastered across his face. He wasn't going to let his past problems bring him down now.<p>

Estonia and Latvia had similar problems but weren't as sure as Canada how to deal with them.  
>"Why don't we go into the sauna room?" suggested Eduard, pushing his glasses up his nose. Raivis nodded and two Baltics opened the door that lead to the sauna. Stripping off their shirts, leaving only their trunks (respectively flag patterned, of course) they crept in and sat down, breathing in the hot, moist air.<p>

"Eduard? Is that you?"  
>Said Estonian jumped at the sound of his name. He hadn't realized there was another nation in there! (maybe it was because his glasses had fogged up and he hadn't taken them off?)<br>It was Finland. Of course Finland would be in the sauna, thought Estonia, mentally facepalming (actually facepalming was hard for him because of his glasses. You got fingerprints all over the lenses).

"You brought Raivis too! How nice!" Eduard could make out the foggy outline of his friend approaching them. "But why have you still got your swimming costumes on?"  
>Eduard took off his glasses, and Latvia looked up. Tino was stark naked.<p>

The synchronised screams could be heard from the opposite end of the pool.

And they were heard by a certain pair of Swedish ears. _Scr'ms comin' fr'm sauna. T'no in sauna._ Berwald was over there in a flash, only for the door to be flung open onto his shoulder and for Latvia to run blindly past him and fall into the pool. The tall blond peered in, saw Tino, and went bright red…

…could you do _that_ in a sauna?

* * *

><p>Four hours later, with wet hair and wrinkled fingers, the nations arrived back at the hostel.<br>"We're having an early dinner, and then having our last disco of the trip," announced Evan as the coach parked outside the hostel. "Have a shower, get changed, do whatever you need to do, but make sure you're in the dining room by five! One hour is plenty of time!"

At five, about everyone was in the dining room. Arranged along two long tables were pots and pans full of dahls and masalas (1), and and between them were plates heaped with rice and roti breads.  
>"Tuck in, everybody!" called Lakshmi, thrilled that her food was being served. "You all know how to eat it, yes? All vegetable masalas, chickpeas, paneer (2), there's some 'chicken tikka masala' on the end also if you want to try!"<br>"Chicken tikka masala!" England leapt for the small pot and ladled it onto his plate. Lakshmi shook her head.  
>"You English don't know what true Indian food is," she muttered. For the benefit of the rest of the group, she said, "This is English 'curry' that Arthur loves. I've made it for him because I thought maybe he's the only one who wants it, but anyone can try! It's very spicy, take care!"<p>

Arthur meanwhile was shoveling it into his mouth. Ah, how a good hot curry made his heart beat faster! This stuff was almost as good as fish and chips! (3)

Lithuania hurried into the dining room. He had offered to be the last one to shower, and then he hadn't been able to find a clean shirt, and before he knew it he was late. Thankfully nobody had noticed. He picked up a plate and took a helping from the first serving dish, along with some rice. He saw Poland and went to sit next to him. The blond was in the midst of a discussion with Ireland. Toris picked up his fork, scooped up some rice and the sauce-like stuff he had first taken, and put it in his mouth. The taste exploded on his tongue, filling his mouth with a burning feeling. Toris felt his face heating up and his eyes starting to water as he struggled not to spit the stuff out.

"Toris? Are you, like, okay?"  
>"Did you get the chicken tikka? Bad choice mate, that stuff's epic."<br>"Aoife, I think he's, like, gonna throw up or something!"  
>Toris leapt up and fled the room.<br>"Is he alright?" called Evan.  
>"He's fine, he just can't really handle super-spicy food and stuff."<p>

* * *

><p>It was the night of the last disco. The nations were piling into the hall and music was already playing. Evan wanted this to be a fun, clean party where nobody collapsed or started fights. So when all the alcohol was brought out, he neutralized it, destroyed all the actual alcohol in the drinks so that all that was left was the colour and flavour. Nobody would know that they weren't drinking real alcohol.<p>

Unfortunately, he'd missed the cup that was already in Arthur's hand. With a small amount of alcohol in his system, he didn't completely break down like he did when he drank copiously, but it was enough to bring out some of his forgotten youth.  
>"<em>Angleterre<em>," came a purr in his ear as he danced to a fast song. Grinning viciously, Arthur spun round and shoved Francis against the wall, taking the Frenchman by surprise.  
>"Take off those ridiculous high heels," Arthur growled. More than happy to play the dominated for once, Francis slipped off his boots. He was now the same height as Arthur.<br>"I like it when you are... dominating, _Angleterre_," he whispered seductively. He knew exactly which buttons to press.  
>"Upstairs," Arthur ordered, a glint in his eyes that hadn't been their since the 1500s. How Francis <em>loved<em> that glint.

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><p>Meanwhile, Vash could see Lakshmi in the corner, looking sad, and he immediately went over.<br>"What's the matter with you?" he asked, biting his lip as it came out harsher than he intended.  
>"I feel bad that I made Toris sick with my food…"<br>"You didn't make him sick, it's his fault he couldn't handle it!" Dammit, he'd done it again!  
>"I suppose so." Lakshmi looked happier now.<p>

"I thought your food was good. I mean, wonderful. The best I've ever tasted," said Vash 'sweetly'. To his dismay, her smile dropped again.  
>"Vash, what's wrong?"<br>"Nothing's wrong," he assured her, grinning.  
>"Yes there is," she insisted. "You're not acting like yourself."<br>_She's realised!_  
>"I'm the same as I always was," he replied, smiling a slightly manic-looking grin as if his life depended on it. Lakshmi frowned.<br>"You are not!" she said stubbornly. "You're not the same Vash I love!"  
><em>L-Love?<em>  
>"What do you mean… love?" he asked uncertainly, his heart sinking.<br>"I mean love! Did you not realise?" asked Lakshmi exasperatedly. "I've always loved you! But now you've changed."

Switzerland felt the urge to put a bucket over his head and thump it repeatedly.  
>"Lakshmi… I've been trying to act differently so that you would love me…" he said weakly. Lakshmi shook her head, a surprised grin on her face.<br>"Anyone who makes you change who you are is not a worthy lover," she told him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Vash blushed, and mumbled something, before quickly kissing her lips. Lakshmi chuckled. This was the Vash she knew.

About twenty metres away, both Elizabeta and Kiku were shocked.  
>"They're together! How did they get <em>themselves<em> together?" asked Elizabeta. Kiku could only shrug.

* * *

><p>"Attention people!" America's voice boomed over a microphone. He was standing behind the DJ deck, holding up two iPods that were from a distance unrecognisable. "Here I have two iPods of two people who <em>everyone<em> agrees need to loosen up a bit! We're going to plug them in and listen to _their_ music! Drumroll please!" Alfred looked at each iPod. One of them was blue with a silver engraving of _Merry Christmas_ on the back, and the other was an old model with a plain black rubber case. He held them up.  
>"Black or blue?" he shouted. The reply was a mix of blacks and blues (and Alfred swore he heard somebody say green). "I say… black!"<p>

When Alfred switched the iPod on and clicked 'Artists', he let out a horrified squeak.  
>"Ludwig! Dude! How come you don't have any music?" Alfred cried.<p>

"Ludwig?"  
>"Germany?"<br>All eyes turned to the now very embarrassed German.  
>"Did you steal my iPod?" Ludwig demanded.<br>"I didn't steal it, I borrowed it," argued Alfred. "But seriously, why is there nothing on this iPod?"  
>"What do you mean, no music?" Ludwig frowned in confusion. "My iPod has plenty of music on it."<br>"_No_, it doesn't."  
>"Ve, Gilbert dropped it in the bath on Monday!" said Feliciano. Ludwig looked like he was using all his self-control not to beat his older brother into the middle of next week.<br>"Man, I went to a lot of trouble sneaking that out of Ludwig's bag during the night," grumbled Alfred, tossing the iPod over to Ludwig and turning on the next one. Once plugged in, the little screen lit up and the American read the name that popped up on the top of the menu.  
>"Berwald's iPod," he read out loudly. Everyone turned to stare at the Swede. Alfred hit 'Shuffle' and everyone recognised the band that started playing.<br>"ABBA?" Alfred laughed. "I'm not surprised!"

After half an hour of Swedish pop (plus the Caramelldansen, which was much enjoyed by Hungary, Japan and America) Alfred switched the songs to more current songs and let it play. When 'The Saltwater Room' by Owl City started playing, Alfred grabbed his microphone and shouted, "Couple dance! Girls couple dance! Matt, Mattie-Mattie-Mattie _take the mike while I'm dancing with Natalya!_"

Switzerland looked like he wanted to somehow lead both India and Liechtenstein at the same time until Iceland stepped up and took Lili's hand. Aoife consented to dance with Australia, seeing as 20% of his people had Irish ancestry, he was practically a little brother to her. Russia led Ukraine, much to the older girl's happiness, and James led Bella in a rather more energetic dance than the other couples. The dance was short and sweet, and mellowed out the atmosphere. A string of softer songs followed, and there were more couple dances. It wasn't really a disco anymore, it was more like just a dance, commemorating the fact that they might fight, but at the end of the day they were all nations and got along at least some of the time.

Of course, it helped that nobody was drunk.

* * *

><p><strong>Evan Kirkland <strong>We're going tomorrow! Where did the time go? I look up and there it is… gone!  
><strong>James Kirkland, Kiku Honda <strong>and **9 others **like this

**Alfred F. Jones **ikr! wait, what do u mean, "I look up and there it is… gone"? if its there then its not gone!

**Evan Kirkland **Don't worry about it :)

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><p><strong>I hope that was up to your standards! In my poll of which character people wanted to see more of, Wales was the top answer so I gave him more in this chapter. His mystery has been revealed :D All the sub-plots are rounded off nicely too. I liked finally writing about Lakshmi as a girl who isn't shy about saying her feelings. And by the way, the sign thing is real! Check it out: http:  / news. bbc. co. uk /1 /hi/ 7702913 .stm (remove spaces).**

**The numbered stuff:**

**(1) Dahl and masala are sauce-soup type stuff that you scoop up with roti and eat.**

**(2) Paneer is a type of cheese, but in this reference it's a masala with this cheese in it. It might sound odd but it's really nice ;)**

**(3) 'Chicken tikka masala' is English Indian food, and it's becoming as popular as fish and chips here in London. Scientists say that people like spicy curries because it makes their pulses quicken.**

**Just one chapter left~!**


	14. The Update That Concludes Our Tale

**FINAL CHAPTER! Much as I'll be relieved to have finished this, I can't quite believe it's over ;u; Enjoy a ridiculously short ending, people. Oh yeah, and the village name doesn't actually have hyphens in it, FF just wouldn't let me post it as one word :/**

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><p><span>Chapter 14: The Update That Concludes Our Tale<span>

If the nations thought they were getting the same lie-in on Sunday they'd had the day previously, they could think again – Evan banged on every door at six.  
>"Breakfast in half an hour, we're leaving at in an hour! Shake your legs!"<p>

The dance had ended at about midnight, and most people had stayed awake long after that. Four hours of sleep just wasn't enough for some. Breakfast was mostly quiet, because everyone was too busy glugging coffee to chat. Once settled onto the coach (an hour later than originally planned), some promptly fell back to sleep, while others were excessively loud to make up for everyone else.

Evan sat in the back again; the row of five seats had been dubbed 'The Kirkland Row'.  
>"You know, my proper surname isn't really Kirkland," James was telling Bella, who was dozing off in his lap. "In my own government, they call me James MacDonald."<br>"Do you all have other names?" America piped up, from the row in front of them, to the left. Natalya was beside him again (she was probably going to have to put up with him falling asleep on her shoulder in an hour).  
>"Our surname is Murphy," declared Aoife and Cian in unison.<br>"And my other name is Evan Davies." Evan grinned. "I wanted to go to so many other places. Electric Mountain, South Stack Lighthouse... there's one village that I _really_ wanted to take you lot to. I wanted to see if you could pronounce it, Alfred."  
>"Oh yeah? What is it?"<br>"Llanfair-pwllgwyngyll-gogerych-wyrndrob-wllllant-ysiliogo-gogoch."

...

"_What?"  
><em>"It means 'St Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio with a red cave'."  
>"…<em>Whoa<em>."

* * *

><p>Suddenly Arthur's phone buzzed, and he discreetly checked it.<p>

_To: Arthur  
>From: Francis~ ;)<br>Why do you always leave me alooooooone, Angleterre?_

_To: Francis~ ;)  
>From: Arthur<br>Stop being such a drama queen. When's your flight back to Frogland?_

_To: Arthur  
>From: Francis~ ;)<br>Eleven p.m. But I don't really want to go~_

Arthur reddened slightly, and shook his head as he typed: _do you want to stay at my house?_

_To: Arthur  
>From: Francis~ ;)<br>Ooh, yes please~! Merci mon cher xxxx_

* * *

><p>By the time the coach had reached the motorway, a number of interesting things had happened: Finland had shouted "WHERE ARE MY GLOVES?" in his sleep so loudly that Norway in front of him, also asleep, had punched Denmark beside him in the face. India had asked Hungary for the umpteenth time to tell the whole story of her and Austria's wedding back in 1867, grinning like a child at storytime even though it was technically a political arrangement - she still couldn't get over the fact that Austria had given a toast to Hungary from her shoe. Romano, armed with tomatoes, had lobbed one of the red missiles at Germany, but it had hit Netherlands instead, and the taller boy thought it was Spain that had thrown it, resulting in a throwing battle that included a packet of Polo mints, a plastic box of churros and Netherlands' pipe. Latvia was so engrossed in his latest romance novel that he didn't notice Poland painting the nails of his left hand and Estonia recording it on his phone. It would be an... <em>energetic<em> journey, but hadn't the last seven days been exactly that?

Heracles was already asleep, Kiku noticed with a smile. Feeling around in his rucksack for his mobile phone, he pulled out a notebook and remembered that he had planned to keep a diary of the trip but had forgotten. Well, what better time to write it than now? It was seven hours back to London Heathrow.

_Dear Diary,_

_This is Honda Kiku. I am on a coach, just like in my previous entry, but it is not the same journey. In fact, it has been one week and half an hour in a hostel with 35 other nations since my previous entry, and so many things have happened. I have made many new discoveries about my fellow nations, especially the ones i had not met before. Elizabeta-kun was right when she said that trips like these were "breeding grounds" for relationships - five relationships were started between last week and now! Including... Heracles and I... I have much to write._

_But first..._

Kiku shut the notebook and took out his phone. He logged into Facebook, just as he had a week before, and made one small change to his profile. Then he pocketed his phone with a smile.

**Kiku Honda** is in a relationship with **Heracles Karpusi**  
><strong>35 people <strong>like this

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><p><strong>Cheesy ending is cheesy DX<strong>

**That's it for Waiting and Updating, folks! But I can't end without saying a huge thank you to lots of people: Beloved of Eirean, who sent that PM I needed to get writing again after Chapter 12! Also, to _ma cherie_ Nutty Nerd, who patiently helped me when I had writers block too many times to mention :3**

**And of course, anyone who reviewed, favourited, added this story to their Story Alerts, hell, even READ this, you all have my most sincere thanks! I could never have written fourteen chapters without your support. Do congratulate yourselves :D**

**LiechLiet will be back, hopefully with another multi-chapter fic soon ;D**


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